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THE MINISTER 
AND HIS PARISH 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lm 

TORONTO 



THE MINISTER 
AND HIS PARISH 

A Discussion of Problems in 
Church A dministration 


BY 

HENRY WILDER FOOTE, A.M., S.T.B. 


JI5eto got* 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1923 


All rights reserved 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


_j?(A oo 
.F/o 


Copyright, 1923, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and printed. Published October, 1923. 



Press of 

J. J. Little & Ives Company 
New York, U. S. A. 

©C1A760G68 

3CT 31 1923 



To 

MY WIFE 




PREFACE 


This book is intended for laymen who are engaged in 
church administration as much as it is for ministers, for 
the problems discussed concern both in almost equal degree, 
since they involve a dual relationship,—that of the minister 
to his parish and of the parish to its minister. It would 
be as impossible to write a book on this subject for the 
minister alone, or for church trustees alone, as to write 
a book on physiology which should discuss the functions of 
the head without any reference to the body, or those of 
the body without any reference to the head. In church 
administration the minister is the directing head, the 
parish is the functioning body. The book deals primarily 
with this intimate relationship and its inherent duties and 
obligations. 

It is based in large part upon a series of lectures deliv¬ 
ered to several successive classes of theological students 
at the Harvard Divinity School, in part also upon obser¬ 
vations made in the course of a rather unusually varied 
professional experience. Even in childhood I was familiar 
with the atmosphere of parish life, for I had the happi¬ 
ness to be reared by parents who discharged with con¬ 
summate skill and devotion the duties which fall to a 
minister and his wife. I have myself served as minister 
of two parish churches, one in the South and one in the 
Middle West; as a denominational administrative officer in 
a position which brought before me the practical problems 
of churches in many differing localities; as a teacher of 
preaching and parish administration in a theological school 
for nearly a decade; and as the Junior Warden,—equiva¬ 
lent to secretary of the Board of Trustees,—of an important 
city church. I have, therefore, studied from several angles 
the problems discussed in the following pages, and am as 

vii 


viii PREFACE 

familiar with the point of view of the layman as of the 
minister. 

Nevertheless I should not have felt justified in adding 
to the world’s burden of books were I acquainted with any 
other volume dealing comprehensively with the topics here¬ 
inafter discussed. There is a plethora of books on preach¬ 
ing, there are many on pastoral care, but there are 
very few on parish administration as it is conducted in 
Protestant churches. The most widely known book on the 
subject—“Parish Problems,” edited by Washington Glad¬ 
den, is more than thirty-five years old, and, while it is 
excellent at many points, it is defective or out of date at 
others. DeWitt’s “Decently and in Order,” published in 
1914, deals briefly with some of the points considered in 
this book, but much of it is applicable only to the usage of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church. There are also three 
recent English books touching upon some parts of this 
field, namely Rogers’ “Principles of Parish Work,” 
Green’s “The Town Parson,” and Keatinge’s “The Priest, 
his Work and Character.” All these, however, deal with 
conditions in Great Britain; the first and second from the 
Anglican point of view, the third from the Roman Catholic. 
Keatinge’s book is particularly to be recommended to 
Protestants who are interested in a picture of the Roman 
priesthood at its best. Two other notable books are “The 
Administration of an Institutional Church,” by Hodges 
and Reichert,—a detailed account of the administration of 
St. George’s Church, New York, as developed under the 
leadership of Dr. Rainsford, and “The Work of a Great 
Parish,” edited by Garbett, an account of a parish church 
in Portsea, England. Both these books contain much of 
value to every minister and church officer, but the former 
is expensive, and the second not easily accessible, and both 
describe methods used in large, rich and highly organized 
city churches under conditions which are very different 
from those of most parishes. 

The Roman Catholic Church, with its many centuries of 
experience, has developed a highly elaborated system of 
canon law, and is governed by a hierarchy empowered to 


PREFACE 


ix 


deal promptly and efficiently with the problems of parish 
and diocesan administration. The Protestant Episcopal 
Church in this country, backed by the traditions of the 
Church of England, which in turn drew heavily upon the 
Church of Rome, has also its body of canon law. These 
highly organized branches of the Christian Church are, 
therefore, more efficiently administered, but also tend to 
become somewhat rigid and inflexible, and, of necessity, 
are more autocratic in control than the free churches. 
Most Protestant churches, on the other hand, are loosely, 
often carelessly administered, without an authoritative 
body of canon law, but following a more or less recognized 
set of traditions and customs. These free churches pay 
with their inefficiency the usual price for freedom and 
democracy. They are subject to mismanagement, and to 
dissensions, often over trivial matters, which in many cases 
might be avoided by foresight and an understanding of 
very simple rules of procedure. The helplessness of many 
parish committees is due to lack of guidance, to ignorance 
as to where to turn for information and advice. Some¬ 
times their ministers are almost equally ignorant as to 
their legal rights and obligations, and often they have had 
quite inadequate training in ways of dealing with the 
practical problems of parish administration. It is to meet 
the needs of these parishes and their ministers that this 
book is written, in the hope that it may help them to avoid 
some of the common pitfalls of church life. 

There are some parish problems upon which I have 
touched but lightly. I have not attempted any discussion 
of the canon law, either of the Roman Catholic or of the 
Protestant Episcopal churches. Canon law is a highly 
specialized field about which I know little, and which does 
not concern the great majority of ministers or church 
officers into whose hands this book is likely to come. I have 
not attempted to discuss the civil church law of the several 
states of the American Union,—also a large and difficult 
field,—but have contented myself with setting forth the 
law as related to the minister at certain particular points, 
drawing most of my information from Zollman’s book, 


X 


PREFACE 


“American Civil Church Law,” the only treatise on this 
difficult subject which has come under my notice, although 
Hall and Brooke’s “American Marriage Laws” also deals 
with one especial phase of this subject. In matters of 
church art and architecture I have dealt only with certain 
essential points to be borne in mind, for there is an abun¬ 
dant literature on the subject, including many short 
manuals on modern church architecture, for the most part 
thoroughly bad. I have not attempted to deal with prob¬ 
lems of Sunday-School management, or with the larger 
field of religious education, or work with young people, 
both because these matters properly come under the head 
of pastoral care, a subject outside the scope of this book, 
and because there is already a large body of modern litera¬ 
ture dealing with them. In the same way I have passed 
over the problems connected with the conduct of worship, 
an important field for the minister, but one which would 
require an entire volume for any adequate discussion. 
This book is definitely limited to the discussion of the legal, 
financial, business and administrative problems of the 
church. 

In writing of the technique of, and the machinery for 
administering a parish, I have not forgotten Ezekiel’s great 
vision of the wheels. I am well aware that machinery 
alone, no matter how perfect, cannot bring in the kingdom 
of God, but that the living spirit must be in the wheels if 
they are to be lifted up from the earth and made to go. 
But good organization and effective administration mean 
lessened wear and tear, the minimizing of drudgery, the 
elimination of needless obstacles and irritations, the freeing 
of the spirit from a petty bondage that it may aspire to 
higher things. Spirituality does not consist in the neglect 
of practical considerations, but is more certainly attained 
through recognition of their rightful place as the physical 
foundation of our everyday lives, and in their due subor¬ 
dination as means to the greater end. If this book shall aid 
ministers and parishes so to order their temporal affairs 
as to give a firmer foundation for the life of the spirit it 
will have answered the purpose which it is intended to 
serve. 


PREFACE si 

I am indebted to the following persons for suggestive 
criticism and advice in the preparation of the book: Rev. 
S. A. Eliot, D.D., and President E. M. Wilbur, D.D.* who 
have read the manuscript; Romney Spring, Esq., who has 
read the chapters involving legal questions; Mr. W. B. 
Aldrich, who has read Chapters VI, VII, and VIII; Dr. 
A. T. Davison, who has read Chapter XI; and, above all, 
to my wife, for constant encouragement and assistance. 

H. W. F. 


Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
June, 1923. 




•* , 






















CONTENTS 


CHAPTBR 

I The Call and Settlement of the Minister . . . 

The bond between minister and parish—Channels of 
communication between churches and ministers—The 
candidate for a pulpit—The church with a vacant pul¬ 
pit—Courtesy due the visiting minister—Courtesy due 
from the candidate to the church—Courtesy of church 
to church—Issuing a call—The contract between 
church and minister, as stated supply, as assistant min¬ 
ister, as associate minister, as settled minister—The 
minister’s tenure of office—The act of installation. 

II The Eights and Duties of the Minister .... 

The status of the minister—Canon law and 11 benefit of 
clergy ’ ’—Exemptions—Solemnization of marriages— 
Confidential communications—Slander and libel—Con¬ 
tracts—The minister’s duty to his parish—The rights 
of the minister—The minister’s relation to the gov¬ 
erning board of his church. 

III The Legal Organization of the Parish .... 

State and church in the United States—Types of 
church corporations: the territorial parish, the corpo¬ 
ration sole, the “trustee corporation,” the corpora¬ 
tion aggregate—The by-laws of the society—Church 
membership—The governing board of the church—The 
church officers—The conduct of parish meetings. 

IV The Working Organization of the Parish . . 

The church’s field of service—The minister as direct¬ 
ing head—The paid staff—Volunteer workers—The 
standing committees—The educational work of the 
church—The social life of the church—Social service 
—The parish as a cooperative enterprise. 

V The Parish Eecords. 

The value of parish records—The records as church 
property—The materials needed—The minister’s per¬ 
sonal records. 

xiii 


PAQB 

1 


22 


36 


45 


53 



XIV 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

VI The House of Worship .63 


The grounds and buildings committee—When new 
church buildings are planned—Selecting the church 
architect—The church a house of worship—Styles of 
architecture—The Gothic style—The Georgian style— 
Other architectural styles—The church interior—The 
interior walls—The windows—The organ—The pulpit 
and reading-desk—The communion table—The seats 
for the ministers—The pews—The control of gifts 
and memorials. 


VTI The Parish-house . 82 

The value of the parish-house—Its location—Its plan 
and equipment. 

VIII The Parsonage .87 

A residence for the minister—Its location—Type of 
house required—Furnishing the parsonage—Mainte¬ 
nance of the parsonage. 

IX The Church Finances .93 


Business-like methods—The minister’s responsibility— 
Miscellaneous sources of income: plate collections, the 
church fair, renting the church property—The pro¬ 
prietary system—The pew rental system—The sub¬ 
scription, or free-pew system—The budget—The 
treasurer’s report—Methods of securing subscriptions 
—Endowment funds—Insurance—Benevolences. 

X The Minister’s Salary and Fees. 110 

The minister’s salary—The theory of the minister’s 
‘ ‘ living ’ ’—The Roman practice—The Protestant prac¬ 
tice—What is an adequate salary?—The minister’s 
salary and the church budget—Professional fees. 

XI The Organist and Choir. 123 

The function of music in the church service—The 
music committee—The organist—The choir—Types of 
choirs—The location of the choir—The robed choir— 

The minister’s relation to organist and choir. 

XII Church Advertising. 135 

Shall the church advertise?—Traditional ways of at¬ 
tracting attention—The type of appeal—The church 
year-book and calendar—Bulletin boards—Newspaper 
notices—Advertising the minister—The publicity com¬ 
mittee—The advertisement of a loyal congregation. 









CONTENTS 


xv 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIII The Church and the Stranger.150 

Reception of strangers—The hospitality committee— 

The minister at the door—The obligations of the 
visitor. 

XIV The Ethics of the Ministerial Profession . . . 157 

The moral standards of the minister—Conduct unbe¬ 
coming in a minister—Relations with other ministers 
—Relations between the senior minister and his as¬ 
sistants—Relations with predecessors and successors 
—Labors of love. 

XV The Liberty of the Pulpit.170 

The right of free speech—The limits of liberty—The 
rights of the congregation—Political and social pro¬ 
grams—The approach to controverted topics—The at¬ 
titude of the parish. 














THE MINISTER 
AND HIS PARISH 











THE MINISTER AND HIS 
PARISH 


CHAPTER I 

THE CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 

The bond between minister and parish. 

It is the fashion in some circles today to criticize a 
phrase much used by earlier generations, “the sacred call¬ 
ing of the ministry.’’ The modern critic declares that the 
ministry is no more sacred than any other honorable occu¬ 
pation, and he is likely to go on to describe it in economic 
terms—the minister is a “salesman of religion,” whose 
business it is to stimulate a demand for his “goods.” It 
is, of course, quite true that all toil is hallowed, “the 
meanest work divine,” if performed as a service of God 
and in accordance with his laws. Nevertheless, the work 
of a minister in his parish, when ideally conceived and 
worthily fulfilled, must always be marked by a peculiar 
quality of devotion and intimacy which distinguish it from 
other professional and commercial pursuits. The lawyer’s 
# confidential relation to his client, or the doctor’s to his 
patient, does, indeed, bear a certain resemblance to the 
minister’s relation to his parishioner, but in either of these 
cases the relationship touches but a single phase of the life 
of the individual served. The true minister, however, 
enters into very close personal relations with his people— 
sharing their joys, comforting them in sorrow, strengthen¬ 
ing them in disappointment, failure and temptation, 

1 


2 THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 

interpreting to them the ways of God and the laws of 
life. 

The calling is sacred not because the minister as such is 
a sacrosanct person, set apart from the rest of men by a 
mystical rite and characterized by an unworldly holiness, 
but because he deals with the deepest problems of human 
life, the most far-reaching speculations of the mind, the 
highest aspirations of the soul. To the minister come 
the young lovers to plight their troth to one another; the 
happy parents carrying the newborn life to be received 
into the congregation of Christ’s flock; the mother asking 
help for her son who is daily sinking deeper into evil ways; 
the business man puzzled over some problem of ethics; 
the man burdened with the sin from which he would fain 
be delivered; the woman groping in the night of despair. 
The minister goes as a reconciler into homes where a tragic 
break is threatened; or with cheer and courage to a bed¬ 
side of long-drawn-out pain; or with the great words of 
consolation and peace to the soul that is slipping off its 
garment of flesh and will see no more an earthly dawn. 
He stands before his people to lead them in worship; to 
help them uplift their hearts in aspiration; to put into 
words their deepest convictions; to set forth the way 
which leads to righteousness and joy and peace. These 
are the sanctities of the ministry. It deals with souls, and 
* ‘ the guidance of souls is the art of arts. ’ ’ 1 

The value of such a service cannot be measured in 
economic terms, nor paid for in dollars and cents. It is not 
given for a price, but for the love of souls. It is on an 
altogether different plane from the service rendered to the 
community by the business man. From a legal point of 
view the relationship between a minister and his parish is, 
indeed, a contractual one, necessarily based upon a mutual 
agreement as to service to be rendered and compensation 
to be received, as every human relationship must be which 
involves rights and duties between man and man. It in¬ 
evitably has an economic foundation, since the minister 
has a physical life to be sustained, and must pay, like 
other men, for the goods which he consumes. But these 
1 Gregory the Great —‘ ‘ Regulse Pastoralis Liber, ’ ’ Part I, Chap. I. 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OP THE MINISTER 3 


legal and economic relations, though the inevitable foun¬ 
dations of the minister’s work, are not of its essence. Its 
really valuable and significant aspects cannot be defined 
in any contract; the influence of a good minister in the life 
of the community cannot be weighed in balances, nor paid 
for at so much per day. For the relationship of a minister 
to his parish is, above all, a spiritual bond, finding expres¬ 
sion through the medium of the flesh, as every spiritual 
bond must in this earthly life, but transcending the mate¬ 
rial basis which is its necessary incident. 

Therefore such a relationship is not to be entered into 
lightly or unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, soberly 
and in the fear of God. Like marriage, it ought never to 
be regarded by either party merely as an arrangement of 
convenience, nor as a stipulated service for hire. So to mis¬ 
conceive it is to prostitute a spiritual relationship by turn¬ 
ing it into a business transaction, whereas its real purpose 
is the advancement of ideal ends and the upbuilding of 
human souls by a cooperative enterprise. Happiness in 
marriage, however, is most certainly secured by a clear 
recognition of mutual duties and obligations, and by a 
thorough understanding between husband and wife as to 
the economic basis of their common life. Such an under¬ 
standing promotes effective cooperation, and removes petty 
causes of friction and irritation which are liable to develop 
into sordid squabbles. Married life is most likely to be sus¬ 
tained on a high moral and spiritual level when husband 
and wife know themselves to be equal partners in a common 
enterprise, sharing alike its burdens and perplexities, its 
sorrows and triumphs. So likewise, the pastoral relation¬ 
ship is most likely to bear the fullest measure of spiritual 
fruit when it is based upon a clear understanding of the 
rights and the duties of both the minister and the parish; 
upon a full recognition of the inevitable economic basis of 
their common life; and upon complete frankness and 
mutual confidence. The purpose of the discussion which 
follows is to make clear these underlying legal and economio 
conditions, which, when recognized and understood, give 
a firm foundation upon which the true work of the church 
can be carried forward. 


4 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The channels of communication between churches and 
ministers. 

The first problem to be considered is that of the estab¬ 
lishment of communication between the church seeking a 
minister and a minister desiring a settlement. A pulpit is 
vacant: how shall the church secure a suitable minister? 
A minister is looking for a church to serve; how shall he 
find a pulpit which he is qualified to fill? The machinery 
for bringing the church and the minister together varies 
greatly in different branches of the Christian Church, but 
practically every denomination has some form of organiza¬ 
tion for meeting this need. 

In those churches in which authority is most highly 
centralized the bishop in charge of a given diocese or dis¬ 
trict assigns to a vacant church such of the available priests 
or ministers as may seem to him best fitted for the position, 
often without much consultation with the congregation to 
be served. That is the autocratic or monarchical method. 
In the hands of a wise, impartial, spiritually-minded bishop, 
it may secure for a parish a minister better fitted to its 
needs than it could find by independent action, but it robs 
the parish of initiative; diminishes its sense of respon¬ 
sibility; encourages the minister to look primarily to his 
ecclesiastical superior for reward and promotion; and, in 
unwise or corrupt hands, leads to favoritism and unjust 
discrimination. 

In those denominations, on the other hand, in which each 
congregation is an autonomous, self-governing body, fed¬ 
erated with other churches of the same order, the congre¬ 
gations themselves commonly select their own ministers. 
Sometimes such a church may make application to the 
denominational organization which has authority to rec¬ 
ommend names and to give information; sometimes it may 
deal directly with possible candidates of whom it has 
heard. This method involves the dangers as well as the 
advantages of independence, for it weakens the bond which 
ought to bind the individual church to others of its own 
communion, it increases the risk that the churches will 
make their choice upon inadequate information, and it 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 5 


exposes them to a greater danger of exploitation by un¬ 
worthy candidates for the ministry. Nevertheless this is 
the method of democracy, dominant in Protestantism today. 
Even in those Protestant churches which are episcopally 
organized there appears to be a strong tendency towards 
the practice of the selection of a minister by the local 
parish, subject to the approval of the bishop. The prob¬ 
lem, therefore, is that of providing safeguards against the 
dangers and abuses of this system, so that it may be admin¬ 
istered with the maximum efficiency. 

The candidate for a pulpit. 

A man who desires settlement as the minister of a 
church, whether he be a theological student finishing his 
course but not yet ordained, or a man already in the min¬ 
istry desiring to find a new field of service, must establish 
connections with the responsible authorities of that branch 
of the Christian Church in which he wishes to work. If 
he be not yet on the ministerial list of his own communion, 
he must first of all fulfill the established requirements for 
obtaining recognition as a minister authorized to take 
charge of a pulpit. The hospitality of the pulpit can be 
offered only to men who thus fulfill the prescribed and 
legitimate requirements of their own denomination. Those 
requirements are usually the fruit of long experience, and 
are intended to protect both the churches and the min¬ 
isterial body from the intrusion of men not qualified by 
character or training for the office of the ministry, and 
from exploitation by pulpit adventurers and charlatans. 
Therefore no self-respecting man will try to take short 
cuts into the ministry. The shepherd goes in by the door. 
His denominational authorities rightly look with suspicion 
on one who tries to climb into the sheepfold by some other 
way. 

The candidate for a pulpit, after securing the necessary 
status within his own denomination, should ask the official 
intermediary to present his name to such churches with 
vacant pulpits as offer opportunities of service for which 
he is reasonably well fitted. A man thoroughly trained and 
of good personal qualifications may fail in his ministry 


6 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


over one parish, where he does not fit, and yet be thoroughly 
successful in another. The problem is one of finding a 
church where his particular gifts and abilities may have 
the amplest opportunity for expression. The candidate 
should not, therefore, necessarily accept the first call which 
comes to him, nor be in too much of a hurry to be settled, 
but should look for the place which needs him and for 
which he is best adapted. He must not, of course, expect 
perfection, nor set too high an estimate on his own value, 
but he will do well to refuse a call unless he is reasonably 
convinced that he can fulfill, with a measurable degree 
of satisfaction, the obligations which he takes upon him¬ 
self. 

The candidate must also consider the type of service 
which he wishes to undertake. Shall he serve for a time 
as an assistant in a large and well-established church, or 
shall he seek the pulpit of a smaller church of which he 
shall have sole charge? There is much to be said in favor 
of the young minister seeking service, for at least a year 
or two, as an assistant in a large and well-established 
parish, in which he may obtain practical training under 
the guidance of an experienced minister. That is the uni¬ 
versal practice in the Roman Church, in which the young 
priest serves as a curate for six or eight, or even as much 
as a dozen or fourteen years before being placed in charge 
of a parish. It is also a common practice in the Church of 
England and in the Protestant Episcopal Church in this 
country, although in those churches the term of a curate’s 
service is commonly not longer than two or three years. 
This practice is, unfortunately, much less common in 
churches of other Protestant denominations. The candi¬ 
date who wishes a church of his own must, of course, expect 
to begin with a rural church, or one in a small town or in 
a newer community of our country. He will do well not 
to settle in his own home town, but to go where the people 
have not known him from infancy. The home folks are 
likely to regard him as a boy long after he has attained 
maturity, and to ask the question of the Nazarenes of long 
ago, “Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father and 
mother we know?” 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 7 


It is a common practice for a candidate, who desires to 
be heard in a given church, to ask his personal friends to 
recommend him to the church. This method is free from 
objection only when judiciously followed. Recommenda¬ 
tions, to have any value, must proceed from persons whose 
names will carry some weight with the church, and 
should be frank and accurate statements of the candidate’s 
qualifications and limitations, rather than undiscriminat¬ 
ing eulogies. The candidate should take care not to flood 
the committee with letters of recommendation. Two or 
three judicious letters may help to secure the candidate a 
hearing, whereas a large number of letters tends to put the 
committee on their guard against the man for whom his 
friends seem to be acting in concert. Furthermore, letters 
of recommendation are always more valued when they do 
not come unsolicited. Therefore the minister will often do 
well simply to ask the official denominational intermediary, 
in sending his name to the church, to add that they can 
secure information about him by writing to such and such 
persons. 

The practice of the candidate’s writing directly to the 
church to solicit a hearing for himself is very objection¬ 
able ; yet not infrequently when the pulpit of a church be¬ 
comes vacant, the committee in charge will receive a con¬ 
siderable number of personal letters from ministers asking 
that they may be heard. This practice is to be condemned 
without qualification, and many parish committees are wise 
enough at once to mark off their list of candidates the min¬ 
isters from whom they may receive any such direct 
solicitation. 

The practice has also arisen in recent times of min¬ 
isters advertising for churches in the denominational 
press. The practice is theoretically unobjectionable if 
it is done anonymously, and may, in rare instances, 
lead to a happy settlement, but such an advertisement 
almost of necessity involves the minister in a self- 
laudatory estimate of his own value in a form liable to 
sound boastful. Therefore the candidate’s best method 
of approach ought normally to be through the established 
intermediary. 


8 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The church with a vacant pulpit. 

It is almost always a grave disadvantage to a church 
to be for any length of time without a pastor. Therefore, 
as soon as it is evident that the pulpit is to be vacated, the 
church should promptly appoint a Pulpit Supply Com¬ 
mittee. That committee should be thoroughly representa¬ 
tive of the various elements in the church. In particular 
those whose age is under forty-five or fifty should be more 
largely represented than those above that age, since upon 
them will chiefly devolve the responsibility for the church 
for the next quarter century. A minister ought not, that 
is, to be chosen primarily to please the old people who will 
in the course of a few years pass from this earthly scene. 
A thoroughly representative committee will necessarily be 
a rather large one. If it include more than ten or a dozen 
persons it should appoint an executive committee, consist¬ 
ing of the chairman, secretary and one other, authorized 
to conduct negotiations without being obliged to call the 
whole committee together for too frequent consultation. 

Unless the committee is already thoroughly informed as 
to available possibilities for the vacant pulpit it should at 
once get into communication with the appropriate denomi¬ 
national officer and secure from him a list of possible can¬ 
didates, with such information about them as can be 
given. Generally the committee will find itself with a 
long list of names to be weeded out. All sorts of possible 
and impossible candidates will be suggested. 

The committee may proceed by one of several methods. 
The worst possible method is for the committee to hear 
“the candidate whose name is legion,’’ that is, to hear 
through a long succession of Sundays all the men whose 
names have been proposed. This method involves a maxi¬ 
mum amount of competition between candidates, odious 
comparisons between this and that man, and results in 
confusing and often in splitting the congregation. A 
better method is to select not more than two or three names, 
after a careful study of each candidate’s character and 
qualifications, his record of professional service and his 
preaching ability. 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 9 


Most Protestant churches lay too much stress upon the 
candidate’s preaching ability and give quite inadequate 
consideration to his training, experience, the quality of his 
pastoral and administrative work, and the place which he 
has made for himself in the community. They forget that 
the most taking candidate does not necessarily make the 
most satisfactory minister; that solid and durable qualities 
of character are more important than ability to display all 
one’s goods in the shop window. This investigation of 
the several candidates is, of course, the first step, and 
should be made before, and not after, the men under con¬ 
sideration are invited to preach. It is, of course, a waste 
of time to consider men who cannot possibly be secured, 
yet sometimes a minister who has given no sign of wishing 
a change may have hidden reasons for being glad of an 
opportunity to move. Often the denominational inter¬ 
mediary can advise the committee as to whether a man 
whose name they are contemplating is possibly within 
their reach. 

When the committee has made up its mind as to the 
two or three candidates of largest promise, who might also 
be willing to consider a call, they should arrange to have 
these men heard by several members of the committee, and 
on more than one occasion. It is not fair to judge any 
preacher on a single hearing. Every man has an off day 
now and then—he may have a bad cold, or be unusually 
fatigued, or on the other hand, the committee may happen 
to hear him when he is preaching in much better form than 
is usual. It is also wise for the committee to hear a man 
in his own pulpit rather than to have him preach in the 
church which is considering him. If he comes as a can¬ 
didate he is inevitably more or less self-conscious, and the 
congregation itself is in a critical mood. Whenever prac¬ 
ticable, therefore, the committee should send some of its 
members to hear the possible candidate in his own pulpit 
on at least two Sundays when he is not aware of their 
presence. This method, of course, is not possible where 
the candidate lives at a great distance from the church 
which desires to call him. In that case it will probably be 
necessary to ask him to come on, so that he can be heard 


10 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


by at least some members of the congregation. He may 
be invited to preach in the vacant pulpit as an avowed 
candidate, but, when practicable, it is often better to 
arrange an exchange for him with the minister of some 
near-by church which the committee can visit. The self- 
consciousness of the candidate is thereby reduced to a 
minimum, his own congregation is less likely to be pre¬ 
maturely upset by the possibility of losing him, and the 
church which is considering him avoids the risk of finding 
itself in an equivocal relation to him. 

The best method of all is for the committee to be given 
authority to select a single candidate, the best available 
man whom it can find, to be recommended to the church, 
which reserves only the right of a final vote to confirm or 
reject the committee’s recommendation. This means giving 
large powers and responsibility to the committee, in which 
the parish must have entire confidence, but the method 
is the one most likely to lead to satisfactory results. A 
variation of this method—which may be the only prac¬ 
ticable one in the case of an unattached candidate under 
consideration by a church so located that he must make a 
considerable journey to reach it—is to ask him to come 
as a supply for one, two or three months, that the can¬ 
didate and the church may make acquaintance, with the 
understanding that at the end of the stated period the 
connection may be made a permanent one if mutually 
agreeable, either party, however, being at liberty to with¬ 
draw if a definite settlement seems undesirable. Where 
this method is followed the church should pay the candi¬ 
date’s traveling expenses and its usual salary during the 
stipulated period. 

Courtesy due the visiting minister. 

The church which invites a minister to occupy its pul¬ 
pit, whether a candidate or a supply, is under certain 
obligations of courtesy to him. It should always send him 
exact information as to the location of the church and the 
best route to reach it; the hour of service; the order of 
worship and hymn book used, unless the church uses some 
standard denominational form; and where the visitor is 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 11 


to find entertainment for the night or for necessary meals. 
If he be a stranger and the time of his arrival is known, 
he should be met at the railroad station. The fee for a 
single Sunday should generally be one per cent of the 
annual salary, plus the visitor’s expenses for travel. If 
the church has asked more than one man to come as candi¬ 
dates it should hear all before voting to call any, or, if it 
comes to a clear decision to call one, should inform the 
others and give them the choice of either canceling their 
appointments or of filling them as supplies. The church 
should be careful not to hold out false hopes of a call by 
complimentary phrases leading several men to imagine that 
they are about to be selected. 

Courtesy due from the candidate to the church. 

No minister should accept an invitation to preach as an 
avowed candidate in any church if he knows in advance 
that he would not consider a call thereto. A man may, 
of course, sometimes preach in a vacant pulpit to which he 
has been invited only as a supply, and create so favorable 
an impression that he is unexpectedly confronted with a 
call. But, as a general principle, a minister who has no 
intention of accepting a call is as much bound in honor not 
to encourage one as a high-minded woman is bound to 
head off an offer of marriage which she would not consider. 
If he be already settled it is unprofessional for him to en¬ 
courage calls to other pulpits merely for the sake of im¬ 
pressing his own congregation with his value, or as a means 
of securing a raise in his salary. After one or two such 
experiences his congregation is likely to be rather glad 
to let him go. 

If the candidate, after making an appointment to preach 
in a given church, receives a call to another pulpit which 
he intends to accept, he should inform the church with 
which he has made the preaching appointment, giving it 
the opportunity of either canceling the appointment or of 
receiving him as a supply. If, however, he has not defi¬ 
nitely decided to accept the call in hand, he is at liberty to 
fill the appointment and take his choice between two calls, 
provided he is entirely frank with both churches and 


12 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


avoids any appearance of trying to make them bid against 
each other for his services. 

Courtesy of church to church. 

A church which has decided to call a minister already 
settled elsewhere is under obligation to deal fairly with its 
sister church. A church should not call a minister who 
has but recently settled over another parish, unless it is 
known that the arrangement has proved unsatisfactory, but 
should give the parish already in possession of the minister 
a fair chance to work out its plans with him. A large and 
rich church should not offer a minister a much larger 
salary than he is receiving on condition that he come to 
it immediately, but should remember that the minister is 
under obligations to his present parish; that often the 
termSs of his settlement require him to give three months’ 
notice; and that in any case it is not fair for him to drop 
everything in midseason, but that he must be allowed time 
to bring his pastorate to a dignified conclusion. That will 
also allow the church from which he is resigning time to 
adjust itself and to make plans for calling another minister. 
Finally, no church should call a man from another pulpit 
without giving the church over which he is already settled 
full opportunity to retain him in its service if it wishes 
to do so and is in position to offer him satisfactory con¬ 
siderations. It is not well that a Christian church should 
follow the methods of the children of Dan in their seduc¬ 
tion of the priest of the house of Micah. 

Issuing a call. 

When the pulpit committee has found a candidate whom 
it is prepared to recommend to the parish, it should ask for 
a conference with him. The committee should not take this 
step unless it is reasonably certain that the parish will 
accept its recommendation, nor should it ever ask two men 
to allow their names to be submitted simultaneously, in 
competition. If the committee is undecided between two 
candidates it should first refer the matter to the parish 
and receive authority to proceed further with one or the- 
other man. The committee should never require a candi- 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 13 


date to pledge himself in advance to accept a call should 
one be issued. It should be content with an assurance 
that he will 4 ‘seriously consider” a call, though, if the 
candidate himself volunteers the statement that he would 
give “favorable consideration” to a call, his words may 
be regarded as tantamount to an assurance that he will 
accept it. 

In the conference or correspondence between the com¬ 
mittee and the candidate the latter is entitled to full and 
exact information as to the condition of the church and the 
character and prospects of the community in which it is 
located. The candidate should be informed as to the actual 
financial condition of the church; its membership and 
parish organizations; its buildings and equipment; its his¬ 
tory and its prospects. A parish committee should never 
conceal unpleasant facts or discouraging features from the 
candidate, 2 though it is not necessary to go into details of 
old scandals or church squabbles, save as they affect the 
existing situation. The information should include a state¬ 
ment as to the salary; the parsonage (if any); the min¬ 
ister’s annual vacation; the number and type of paid 
assistants (stenographer, parish worker, assistant minister, 
if any) ; and also as to any unusual features in the church’s 
situation or plans for the future. If, after due conference, 
the candidate has given assurance of his willingness to 
consider a call upon the terms proposed, a meeting of the 
persons legally composing the church must be duly called, 
and a formal vote taken as to whether the candidate shall 
be invited to serve the church. It is essential that the 
state law governing church corporations should be duly 
observed in all particulars, as well as the canon law, or 
the constitution and by-laws of the individual church. In 

a A certain church called a minister to its pulpit. He refused to 
come unless an indebtedness of $10,000 was paid off. The parish 
committee sent him word that the debt had been taken care of, 
whereupon he accepted and was duly installed. Then he discovered 
that ten men in the church had each paid off at the bank $1,000 of 
the debt, themselves taking notes from the church, so that the 
church was still in debt, though to its own members instead of to a 
bank. It is unnecessary to point out that the proceeding was a 
thoroughly dishonorable deception bf the candidate. 


14 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


most states the law gives the power to call or to dismiss a 
minister, and to fix his salary, to the voting members of 
the church alone. Without their vote no governing board 
or committee can legally engage him, nor can he be in¬ 
stalled as settled minister of the church. The call and the 
minister’s acceptance should always be put into writing, 
and filed for reference, it being desirable that both minister 
and church should keep copies. 

The contract between church and minister. 

Any church which engages a minister to carry on its 
work thereby assumes certain obligations to him which it 
must fulfill so long as the relationship between the two par¬ 
ties endures. In the eye of the law the minister is a pro¬ 
fessional man employed to render services the general char¬ 
acter of which is a matter of common understanding even 
when a detailed agreement has not been entered into. He 
is not an employee working on wages. Sometimes a church 
speaks of “hiring a minister”—a detestable phrase which 
should never be used to describe the pastoral relationship. 
The minister is not a “hireling of the sheep” but a shep¬ 
herd of the flock; not a “hired man” on wages whose em¬ 
ployment may be terminated on brief notice, but a profes¬ 
sional man in a sacred calling of standing and dignity. A 
state does not “hire” a governor, nor a city a mayor, nor 
a university a professor. Neither should a church debase 
the ministry by attempting to “hire” a pastor. 

The terms under which a minister serves a given parish 
form a legal contract, even when they are informal in char¬ 
acter. Such informality is undesirable, since a “verbal 
understanding” is liable later to be transformed into a 
serious misunderstanding. Any arrangement, therefore, 
by which a minister is engaged to serve a parish, whether 
as a “stated supply,” as an assistant, an associate, or as 
the settled minister of the church, should be set down in 
writing and preserved for future reference. 

(a) As stated supply. 

When the minister comes as a stated supply the arrange¬ 
ment is usually for a given number of Sundays, at the end 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 15 


of which it is automatically terminated. If the period is 
not stated the arrangement may be terminated at any time 
by either minister or parish, without breach of contract. 
The service of a stated supply is an arrangement not to be 
recommended except when the visiting minister is filling 
a pulpit during the temporary absence of the settled pas¬ 
tor; or in a church which for one or another reason is not 
prepared promptly to settle a minister; or when the min¬ 
ister comes as a candidate but a more intimate acquaint¬ 
ance between him and the parish is desirable before a for¬ 
mal call be issued or accepted. It is seldom to the best 
interest of either party that a minister should serve a 
parish as stated supply for more than a few weeks or 
months at the longest. Either he should be installed as 
the settled minister of the church, or should give way to 
another. 

(b) As the assistant minister. 

When the minister comes as an assistant it is usually for 
a limited period, and to perform certain clearly defined 
duties under the direction of the minister of the church. 
The assistant is ordinarily a young man, just out of the 
seminary, who expects to go on to a church of his own in a 
year or two, though sometimes, in a large church, an assist¬ 
ant minister may find a field of service large and interest¬ 
ing enough for his life work. He should be ordained, but 
he should not be installed, since he is not a settled minister 
of the parish, but strictly an assistant to the minister. If 
the latter resigns or dies the position of the assistant 
is unchanged, even though his duties increase, both during 
the period when the pulpit is vacant and after another 
minister is settled. In order to avoid misunderstandings 
the terms of his engagement should be clearly defined in 
writing—the period of his service; his salary; and the 
nature of his duties, which normally involve specified parts 
of the administrative and pastoral work, and perhaps 
responsibility for the conduct of worship and for preaching 
at certain services. Legally his engagement is a contract 
between him and the parish—not between him and the 
minister whom he assists—but that minister should always 


16 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


be fully cognizant of the details of the arrangement, and, 
in practice, frequently acts as the agent of the parish 
in selecting the assistant and defining the terms of 
engagement. 

(c) As associate minister. 

The position of an associate minister is quite distinct 
from that of an assistant, both legally and professionally, 
though sometimes parishes are ignorant of the distinction, 
and engage a minister as an associate when they mean to 
secure only an assistant. An associate minister is duly 
installed as one of the settled ministers of the church en¬ 
gaging him, a colleague of the senior minister, his junior 
partner—not his assistant. At whatever date thereafter 
the senior minister resigns or dies, be it soon or late, the 
associate remains the minister of the church, without any 
further action on his part or that of the parish, and is, by 
both law and custom, entitled to all the rights of that 
position. The parish may not install another minister over 
his head, or assign him a colleague without his consent. 
No church, therefore, should call an associate minister with¬ 
out clearly expecting him to succeed the senior minister in 
due time, and no minister should accept such an invitation 
without a definite understanding as to his position. Gen¬ 
erally an associate minister is not installed until the senior 
minister approaches an age at which he requires more relief 
from his duties than can be secured by the employment of 
an assistant. It is wise, therefore, to select as associate 
a man considerably younger, who may reasonably be ex¬ 
pected to serve for a good many years after his senior 
colleague has disappeared. Otherwise the two minis¬ 
ters will grow old together and the church may find itself 
under the charge of two old men, neither with sufficient 
vigor to carry on its work. Inasmuch as the relationship 
between a minister and his associate often involves rather 
delicate personal and professional contacts, it is highly de¬ 
sirable that the terms of the associate’s settlement and the 
duties expected of him should be fully defined in writing. 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 17 


(d) As settled minister. 

A great majority of the churches of this country have, 
of course, neither assistant nor associate ministers, but 
are administered by one settled pastor. The terms of 
settlement vary very widely in different localities and 
denominations, so that it is impossible to do more than 
indicate the general principles which should govern the 
settlement of a minister in a parish. In churches gov¬ 
erned by a recognized body of canon law 3 the terms of 
settlement, the duration of a pastorate and the mode by 
which it may be terminated are determined by the law of 
the church. In denominations without a formulated body 
of canon law the established customs of the denomination 
prevail. 

The minister's tenure of office. 

In earlier days in New England the minister was com¬ 
monly settled for life. He did not expect to move to some 
other parish, but looked forward to spending all his days 
with the church over which he was first settled, and to 
which he sometimes gave a bond as surety for the due ful¬ 
fillment of his duties. Legally he had a life tenure there. 
He could be dismissed only if he preached theological doc¬ 
trines which departed from the essential teachings of his 
church; or if he were wilfully negligent of his duties; or 
if guilty of immoral or criminal conduct; and, if he chose 
to fight the case, the parish must prove its accusations 
before an ecclesiastical council, or in a court of law. Until 
his dismissal for cause took effect the parish was under 
obligation to pay his salary, and its property could be 
attached and levied upon by law for this purpose. 4 

* ‘ 1 Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by or 
adopted by ecclesiastical authority for the government of the 
Christian organization and its members. ” —“Cath. Encyc., ,> IX, 
56, 2. 

4 ‘ * The settlement of a minister over a Congregational church and 
society, without any limitations as to its continuance or any express 
stipulations as to the mode of its dissolution, is a contract for life, 
determinable only in the manner and for the causes established by 
law. ” —Mass. Digest, Vol. VI, col. 12789; (1807) Avery v. Inhab- 


18 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


A series of important legal decisions in Massachusetts 
courts during the first half of the nineteenth century 
strongly supported the principle of the minister’s right to 
life tenure when no provision was made in the call for 
some method of dissolving the pastoral relationship. It 
was felt that security of tenure was essential to the dignity 
and effectiveness of the minister’s w 7 ork, and that he should 
not be subject to dismissal for other than grave and 
weighty cause. Perhaps as a result of these decisions some 
churches adopted the custom of inserting in the call a pro¬ 
vision that the pastorate might be terminated after due 
notice, if an ecclesiastical council had so recommended. 
As a matter of fact many disputes were referred to such 
councils, either a mutual council called by both parties or 
an ex parte council called by one side only, which heard 
evidence and offered recommendations, but the judgment 
of such a council had not, of course, the effect of a legal 

itants of Tyringham, 3 Mass. 160, 3 Am. Dec. 105; (1812) Burr v. 
Inhabitants of First Parish in Sandwich, 9 Mass. 277; (1836) Shel¬ 
don v. Congregational Parish in Easton, 41 Mass. (24 Pick.) 281, 
286. 

“Where a minister has been settled, and always ready to perform 
all the duties growing out of the relation so created, and has per¬ 
formed such parochial duties as the society would permit him to 
perform, he can recover his salary so long as the relation continues. ’ ’ 
—Mass. Digest, Vol. VI, col. 12795. Thompson v. Cath. Cong. Soc. 
in Rehoboth, 22 Mass. (5 Pick.) 469. 

“Every Congregational minister may forfeit his office by certain 
misfeasances and non-feasances. There are three established causes 
for forfeiture:—first, an essential change of doctrine; second, a 
wilful neglect of duty; and third, immoral or criminal conduct.’’— 
Mass. Digest, Vol. VI, col. 12792. Sheldon v. Congregational Parish 
in Easton, 41 Mass. (24 Pick.) 281. 

“A clergyman, before he assumes the high duties of pastor, is 
bound fully and frankly to disclose his theological tenets and im¬ 
pliedly he undertakes to continue of the same faith and teach the 
same doctrines. If he changes these, he ceases to perform one of 
the conditions of his settlement, and entitles the parish to a disso¬ 
lution of the contract. But it is not every change of opinion or 
variation of belief, which will be sufficient to produce this effect. 
It must be a substantial and essential change, the adoption of ‘a 
new system of divinity,’ so that the parishioners ‘are obliged to 
hear doctrines which they disapprove and which they do not be¬ 
lieve.’ ”—Judge Morton. Sheldon v. Inhabs. of Easton, 21 Pick. 
287. 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 19 


decision and was not binding unless formally accepted by 
both parties. 5 The calling of such an ecclesiastical council 
is now rare. 

Many churches today put into the call a provision that 
the pastorate may be terminated by either the church or 
the minister on given notice—generally three months \ 
Some churches provide for the annual election of the min¬ 
ister. This arrangement is not to be recommended, for it 
does not sufficiently safeguard the minister, whose tenure 
of office is hardly more secure than if he were a stated 
supply. He is too much at the mercy of any dissatisfied 
clique who may take a fancy to some other man. Nor is it 
conducive to the best interests of the church, which is liable 
to unsettling discussions as to whether the minister shall 
or shall not be asked to stay another year. The provision 
that three months’ notice must be given by either party, 
the settlement being otherwise for an indeterminate period, 
is ordinarily the most satisfactory plan. 

Where the minister is settled without any provision for 
the termination of the pastoral relationship he probably 
still has a legal claim to a life tenure, although the con¬ 
ditions of church life have changed so radically in the last 
century that it is possible that the courts would not now 
require a church to maintain a minister with whose serv¬ 
ices a majority of the parish was dissatisfied. The right 
of the minister to resign that he may take another charge 
is now generally recognized, and this might seem to involve 
the right of the congregation to invite the minister to resign 
when such action seems to the best interests of the church. 
Obviously it is most unfortunate to have such an issue 
dragged into court. A church should be very slow to ask 
for a resignation, and, when such action is necessary, 
should act with the largest measure of consideration for 
its minister. 

The cases where a minister refuses such a request are 
rare, and only occur when the minister believes that 
some principle is at stake, or is strongly supported by 
a faction in the congregation, when the issue usually de¬ 
pends upon which party can control the church. As a 

6 Stearns v. First Parish in Bedford, 21 Pick. 114. 


20 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


matter of policy it is almost always unwise for the minister 
to fight a request for his resignation, even if he be sup¬ 
ported by a considerable group of his parishioners. If he 
wins, it will be at the cost of dismembering his parish, 
leaving wounds difficult or impossible to heal; his ministry 
will be marred or crippled; and he himself is liable to be 
embittered. Furthermore, the dissatisfaction which has 
once been manifested is liable to raise its head again. 
Therefore when he finds that a substantial or determined 
minority is against him it is better for him to endure what 
he may deem a gross injustice, and look for another field 
of service. 

The act of installation. 

The formal installation, or institution, of the newly 
chosen minister should take place at the earliest convenient 
date after he begins his active service of the church. In¬ 
stallation is the public ratification of his contract with the 
parish, lacking which he is not legally its settled minister. 
Ecclesiastically it is the act of conferring upon him the 
rights of spiritual leadership involved in his position as 
minister. If he has not been already ordained the service 
of ordination should precede or be combined with the serv¬ 
ice of installation, for, though a layman may be employed 
by a parish to perform some of the offices of a minister, 
the law does not recognize him as a minister until he has 
been ordained according to the usages of the church to 
which he belongs. The form of installation is, of course, 
a matter of denominational usage, but it should always 
include a spoken invitation from the church to the minister 
to fill its pulpit, and his acceptance of the invitation. 

The word ‘ * induction ’ ’ is sometimes, but incorrectly, 
used as equivalent to installation, or institution. Induc¬ 
tion was a usage of the Church of England, inherited from 
the Middle Ages, by which the temporalities of his office 
were transferred to the incumbent, whereas institution was 
the conferring upon him of the spiritualities of his charge. 
Induction was carried out by an archdeacon under man¬ 
date from the bishop. The inductor took the candidate 
by the hand and gave him the keys of the church, with 


CALL AND SETTLEMENT OF THE MINISTER 21 


which he opened the door, entering and shutting himself 
in. He then tolled the bell to make the fact of his induc¬ 
tion known to his parishioners, afterwards opening the 
doors to admit them. 6 

In the modern Office of Institution in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in this country, the equivalent of instal¬ 
lation, the induction is now reduced to a sentence in the 
bishop’s letter of institution, authorizing the incumbent 
“to claim and enjoy all the accustomed temporalities apper¬ 
taining to your cure,” and to the presentation of the keys 
of the church to the new rector by the senior warden, in 
recognition of his authority over its temporalities. 

In most other Protestant churches the minister has no 
such control over the temporalities of the church as was 
symbolized by the ancient form of induction, and his rights 
in connection therewith are regulated by civil law, as will 
be indicated hereafter. In these churches, therefore, the 
service of installation is the recognition of a formal ap¬ 
pointment to the spiritual leadership of a particular parish. 


•Phillimore, “Ecclesiastical Law” (2 ed.), Vol. I, p. 359. An 
interesting reference to this usage may be found in Izaak Walton ’• 
“Life of George Herbert”: “When at his induction (1630) he 
was shut into Bemerton Church, being left there alone to toll the 
bell,—as the law requires him,—he staid so much longer than an 
ordinary time, before he returned to those friends that staid expect¬ 
ing him at the church-door, that his friend Mr. Woodnot looked in 
at the church-window, and saw him lie prostrate on the ground be¬ 
fore the altar.” This ancient usage has probably been seldom ob¬ 
served in this country, perhaps not at all since the Revolution, but 
at least one minister of King’s Chapel, Boston, insisted upon it, 
although we are told that his parishioners resented his doing so. In 
the Annals of King’s Chapel (Vol. I, pp. 390-392) we read of the 
induction of Rev. Roger Price, as rector, on June 25, 1729: “Mr. 
Price produced the Bishop of London’s license and certificate, read¬ 
ing them in the church, and then delivered them to the Church 
Wardens to be recorded in the Church Book. . . . These being read, 
the Rev. Mr. Henry Harris, the Church Wardens, the Vestrymen, and 
the people who were present, all went out of the church, the Church 
Wardens at the door delivering the key of the church to the Rev. 
Mr. Price, who, locking himself in the church, tolled the bell, and 
then unlocked the door of the church, receiving the Church Wardens 
and Vestrymen into the church again, who wished him joy upon his 
having possession of the church.” 


CHAPTER II 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 

The status of the minister} 

The minister who has accepted a call and has been duly 
ordained and settled over a church has acquired a certain 
standing in the community, with corresponding rights and 
obligations. His ordination gives him status as a civil officer 
qualified to solemnize marriages. His installation gives 
him status as the minister of a local church to which he 
now bears a definite legal and spiritual relationship. 

The canon law of the Middle Ages recognized the clergy 
as a distinct caste within the body politic, as did the Eng¬ 
lish common law after the Reformation, so far as the clergy 
of the Established Church were concerned. In both cases 
the clergy were granted certain privileges and exemptions 
which have now to a large extent disappeared in England. 
American civil law does not now recognize the clergy of 
any church as in any sense constituting a separate caste, 
but it does regard them as quasi-officers of the law for the 
solemnization of marriages, and gives them a certain 
measure of special protection in the exercise of their 
profession. 

Canon law and “benefit of clergy ” 

Throughout the Middle Ages the clergy in England were 
exempt from the jurisdiction of the civil courts and could 
be tried only by ecclesiastical tribunals. This exemption 
covered all persons who had been tonsured and who wore 
ecclesiastical dress, and ability to read—which in early 
days was very rarely to be found among persons not in 

1 See Zollman, ‘ ‘ American Civil Church Law, ’ 1 Chap. XII, for a 
full treatment of the legal aspects of this subject. 

22 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 23 


holy orders—was the test commonly applied to determine 
whether a given individual was or was not entitled to 
this “ benefit of clergy/ ’ As ability to read and write 
spread, however, many claimed “benefit of clergy’’ who 
were not entitled to it, even under the most liberal inter¬ 
pretation of the phrase, and the manifold and gross abuses 
arising therefrom led to a gradual limitation of “benefit of 
clergy,” although it was not until 1827 that all exemption 
of the clergy from the jurisdiction of the civil court was 
finally abolished by Parliament. In this country “benefit 
of clergy” was forbidden by Act of Congress in 1790. 

Exemptions. 

English common law provides that ecclesiastical persons 
are not under obligation to serve in any temporal office, 
because the proper discharge of their duties makes it in¬ 
expedient that they should be entangled with temporal 
business. 2 They are even forbidden to hold secular offices 
and employment, although before the Reformation high 
governmental administrative posts were commonly held 
by churchmen. In England a clergyman cannot be 
arrested while going to, attending, or returning from 
divine service. Formerly clergy were free from tolls 
and similar charges; now they are subject to all such 
charges unless especially exempted by Act of Parliament. 
In this country, as in England, ministers of religion are 
exempt from jury duty, and usually from military service, 
on the ground that such forms of service are incompatible 
with their professional duties. These exemptions, be it 
noted, are for the benefit not of the minister but of the 
community which he serves. The same principle governs 
the right of railroads to give reduced rates or passes to 
ministers. It is believed to be a benefit to the community 
that they should be enabled to travel at a minimum of 
expense, while engaged in professional duties. In some 
states a minister may not hold public office. Thus the con¬ 
stitution of the State of Delaware provides that “no or¬ 
dained clergyman or ordained preacher of the gospel of 

a Phillimore’s “Ecclesiastical Law M (2d ed.), Vol. I, p. 473. 


24 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


any denomination shall be capable of holding any civil 
office in this state, or of being a member of either branch 
of the legislature, while he continues in the exercise of the 
pastoral or clerical functions. ’ ’ 3 

Solemnization of marriages. 

In the performance of a marriage service the minister has 
a definite status as a public officer. Marriage in this coun¬ 
try is a civil function. In Massachusetts ministers were 
forbidden in 1646 to celebrate marriages, but the law was, 
in this respect, gradually relaxed. The practice of two 
marriage ceremonies, one civil and the other ecclesiastical, 
which prevails in continental Europe, has, however, been 
avoided here by legislation which permits duly ordained 
ministers of any denomination to serve as civil officers in 
performing marriages. The statutes governing both mar¬ 
riage and divorce vary greatly in the different states of the 
Union, but, in general, any priest, minister, or rabbi or¬ 
dained or appointed according to the custom of the church 
to which he belongs, who is actively engaged in its service, 
and is a resident of the state, may perform marriages 
within its borders. He does so, however, “as a minister of 
the law or quasi-officer, deriving his authority from the 
statutes. ’ ’ 4 It is essential that his ordination should have 
duly taken place, and that the minister should have a rec¬ 
ognized status as such in some organized religious body. 
An itinerant evangelist, holding occasional religious serv¬ 
ices on his own initiative, or the casual occupant of a pulpit 
who is chiefly engaged in secular pursuits, is not qualified 
to solemnize marriages. Massachusetts permits no non¬ 
resident minister to conduct a marriage in the state; New 
Hampshire will give a non-resident a special license upon 
due application; a few states permit any ordained minister 
to perform the service even though he be a resident 
of another state. Few states require the registration 

3 See Zollman, “American Civil Church Law,” p. 334. Zollman 
hints at the incompatibility of such a constitutional provision with 
the statutes which give ministers a quasi-official status for the sol¬ 
emnization of marriages. 

4 Zollman, op. cit., p. 332. 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 25 


of ministers qualified to perform marriages, and there is a 
lamentable lack of uniformity in legislation governing the 
subject. 5 It is a matter of prime importance that every 
minister should, at the outset of his ministry or whenever 
he moves to another state, before he- performs any mar¬ 
riage, inform himself of the marriage laws of his state. 
Otherwise, he is liable to find himself guilty of violation of 
the law in some respect. In most states a marriage entered 
into in good faith is held to be valid even if the minister 
who performs the ceremony was not legally qualified to do 
so, but the minister in question may be subject to penalties. 
His ignorance of the law is no excuse; it is his duty to 
know the law. A copy of the marriage laws can generally 
be obtained, without charge, upon application to the Secre¬ 
tary of the State. 

In most states the parties to the marriage must secure a 
license from the clerk of the town or city of their residence, 
or from the county clerk, and the minister may not perform 
the ceremony until the license, duly made out, is actually 
in his hands. After the ceremony he is responsible for the 
prompt return of the license, duly signed, to the town, city, 
or county clerk who issued it. The minister is not respon¬ 
sible for errors or false statements in the license, if it be 
made out in due form, but if he discovers that an erroneous 
statement has been made in the license with apparent intent 
to deceive he should refuse to perform the ceremony until 
a correct license is procured. If the error is one which does 
not in any way affect the validity of the marriage but is 
merely accidental, 6 he should proceed with the ceremony 
but should inform the clerk who issued the license, when he 
makes his return, asking that the record be corrected. 

The minister is not, however, under obligation to marry 
any couple who may come to him, even if the license be 
duly made out. He may decline to do so if he has reason 
to suspect that the statements made therein are untrue—as 

8 See Hall and Brooke, “American Marriage Laws,” 1919. 

8 For example, a misspelling of a name—as Lewis for Louis, or 
Clarke for Clark—when there is no doubt as to the identity of the 
person involved; or an inaccuracy as to the place of birth, or as 
to the age of one or the other party when a question as to the age 
of consent is not involved. 


26 


THE MINISTER AND IIIS PARISH 


for instance, that one of the parties is under legal age, or 
is for any other reason not competent to marry. He may 
also refuse to marry divorced persons, and should do so if 
the canon law of his church forbids its clergy to perform 
the ceremony in such case. Where the laws of his church 
leave him free to use his own discretion, he will do well in 
every case to make careful inquiry into the conditions 
under which the divorce was granted, to make certain that 
the divorced person may be legally married again, and to 
avoid the chances of scandal which may arise from his too 
complaisant willingness to perform such ceremonies. The 
minister, however, should not decline to marry a couple 
save for very good and. serious reasons. He may seek to 
persuade a couple against a foolish runaway match, but it 
is not his business to decide, at the end of a few minutes’ 
conversation, whether or not the marriage is a wise one, 
and he must remember that his refusal of a couple who are 
honest and sincere in their intentions may deeply wound 
them at one of the holiest moments of their lives. 

Confidential communications. 

There are many occasions upon which the minister re¬ 
ceives confidential communications of the most intimate 
sort. If he stays long in a parish he is likely to know many 
things about his parishioners—their sins, their sorrows, 
their hidden tragedies—which he has no right to communi¬ 
cate to any living soul. The voluntary disclosure of such 
secrets, especially of information given in the confessional 
or in the course of church discipline, is a most serious 
breach of professional ethics, and may also subject him to 
civil liability. The Roman priest is absolutely forbidden 
to disclose any confession made to him, save to his bishop 
in certain very exceptional cases. The Protestant minister 
who has any desire to retain the confidence of his people 
must likewise be known as a man who can be absolutely 
counted on to hold his tongue. He must not tell even his 
wife—for though his parishioners may like her, they have 
no intention of confessing to her too. 

The minister must, however, remember the possibility of 
being called upon to testify in a court of law about some 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 27 


matter which has come to his knowledge through such dis¬ 
closures from persons seeking his spiritual advice. At 
common law such communications are not privileged, al¬ 
though in some states statute law forbids the disclosure by 
a clergyman or priest of communications made to them in 
the course of discipline by their respective churches. 7 
Such statutes have also been held to preclude the disclosure 
of the advice given by the spiritual adviser. In order that 
a communication be thus privileged it is necessary that it 
be made to the clergyman as such, in the course of disci¬ 
pline enjoined by the church, and that it be of such char¬ 
acter as is necessary to enable him to discharge the function 
of his office. It must also have been made and received in 
confidence, although no express promise of secrecy is neces¬ 
sary. This covers the Roman Catholic confessional, and the 
confessional in the Protestant Episcopal Church, where it 
is in use. It may not in every case cover communications 
made in confidence to ministers of other Protestant denom¬ 
inations, because of the difficulty of determining whether 
they have been made in the course of ‘ 4 church discipline/’ 
often a point of great uncertainty in churches which lack 
a formal code for dealing with such matters. 

Owing to the wide diversity of statutory provision in 
the several states of the Union the minister should seek 
sound legal advice as to the law which prevails in his domi¬ 
cile, that his conduct may, in some measure, be guided 
accordingly. Where there is no statute protecting him in 
the matter of confidential communications he must, of 
course, act as conscience dictates if summoned to give in 
court information thus received. If he feels that he has 
no right to make the disclosure called for—as a Roman 
priest would certainly feel about any matter made known 
to him in the confessional—he must refuse to give the 
required testimony, and be prepared to accept such pen¬ 
alty as may be inflicted for contempt of court. 

There is one other point to be observed in this connec¬ 
tion. The minister may not exercise any undue influence 
upon a parishioner, to the injury of other heirs, in order 
to secure a bequest for himself or for some charitable or 

7 See 40 Cyc., p. 2390. Also Zollman, op. cit., p. 334. 


28 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


religious purpose in which he is interested. Where such 
undue influence is suspected, the court will not hold com¬ 
munications which he may have had with the testator to be 
confidential. 

Slander and libel . 

The minister is not a privileged person not amenable to 
the law of libel and slander, but is subject to that law for 
statements which he may make about other people, whether 
he speak in the pulpit or out of it, and he may be held for 
breach of the peace on account of the violence of his lan¬ 
guage. But he is not open to action for slander or libel for 
official announcements made in good faith in the course of 
church discipline, such as the pronouncement of a sentence 
of excommunication. “ However, if the clergyman goes 
farther, and advises his people to shun the excommunicated 
person in business transactions and not to come near to his 
home or employ him . . . , he steps outside of his privilege 
and will be liable to an action of slander or libel. ’ ’ 8 

On the other hand, the law will carefully guard his stand¬ 
ing and reputation as a professional man, and will protect 
him from any defamation of character which tends to 
injure his repute as a minister. His acts or words may be 
commented upon and criticized, like those of any public 
man, “but the commentator must confine his attention to 
them, and may not draw on his imagination for charges 
with which to soil the clergyman’s character. * ’ 9 In view 
of the fact that the minister’s professional reputation is 
gravely affected by any injurious imputation as to his char¬ 
acter, statements concerning him may be regarded as libel¬ 
ous and actionable which would not be held to be injurious 
to the reputation of a layman. 

Contracts. 

The minister is subject to the ordinary law of contracts. 
This is obviously the case as regards the contracts which 
he may enter into in everyday life. The law also applies to 
his engagement with his parish, since this, as was pointed 

8 Zollman, op. cit., p. 350. 

•Zollman, op. cit., p. 331. 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 29 


out in the first chapter, is legally a contractual relationship 
involving mutual rights and obligations. The minister who 
has been duly installed in a church has certain definite 
duties to perform. He has entered into a contract with 
the church to conduct its services of worship and to admin¬ 
ister the sacraments in the manner established by the cus¬ 
toms of his church; to preach with as much unction as the 
Lord gives him; to fulfill the duties of the pastoral office; 
and to exercise a general supervision over the educational 
and administrative activities of the parish. The emphasis 
on these various aspects of church work differs greatly in 
differing localities and denominations. In some places the 
community welfare work of an institutional church, or 
other administrative duties, may absorb the greater part 
of the minister’s time and strength. In another church of 
marked ritualistic tendencies the .conduct of daily services, 
and especially the frequent “celebration” of the eucharist, 
may be his primary obligation. In a non-liturgical church 
the weight of emphasis may be on the preaching. Else¬ 
where constant parish calling may be expected, and very 
moderate accomplishments in much else be forgiven a min¬ 
ister who is diligent in visiting his flock in their homes. 
In the nature of the case the precise details of fulfilling 
these offices cannot be laid down; but each man must do 
with all his heart and soul the various duties which fall 
to him. 

The minister’s duty to his parish. 

The church, at least if it pays a fair salary, has a claim 
upon the minister’s full time and strength. Unless by 
special arrangement, he has no right to add other remunera¬ 
tive employment to his ministry—teaching, lecturing, 
selling books or life insurance. If he cannot live on his 
salary, let him say so to the parish committee, and give 
them the choice of raising his salary, of setting him free for 
part of his time that he may earn money outside, or of 
accepting his resignation. Broadly speaking, however, it 
is undesirable for a minister to do outside work. 10 He 

10 This does not, of course, apply to the minister’s wife, on whose 
time or service the church has no especial claim, unless she is also 


30 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


begins the service of two masters, his professional work 
suffers, perhaps his interest in it weakens; he tend to do 
the thing which is immediately profitable to the neglect of 
what is spiritually important. Many a ministry has been 
wrecked by the temptation to increase the ministerial in¬ 
come by serving worldly interests on week days and God 
on Sundays. That, of course, does not mean that the min¬ 
ister should not accept fees for professional services, such 
as funerals and weddings outside his parish, or that he 
should never lecture, or write essays or a book if he be so 
gifted. But it does mean that he must be scrupulously 
careful that love of fees or fame does not lead to extra-pro¬ 
fessional lecturing or writing which absorb time and energy 
properly belonging to his church and for which he should 
not be paid twice. Some outside lecturing, some writing, 
he may perhaps do with advantage to his parish, which 
profits by his growing reputation—how much is a matter 
for prayerful inquiry, always remembering that few men 
can fulfill all their duties to their parish and do much of 
anything else besides. 

A somewhat similar problem arises in connection with 
the minister’s relation to the general activities of his 
denomination, and to the community in which he lives. His 
parish should recognize the right of the denomination to 
special service from him upon occasion. And most 
churches are glad to have their ministers take a reasonable 
part in community affairs. But it is very easy for an ener¬ 
getic and capable minister to be swamped with such activi¬ 
ties. If he be a willing worker, he will be loaded with 
unpaid jobs to the limit of his capacity. All the community 
welfare enterprises in search of a man will try to draft 
him into service. If he be not on his guard, he finds himself 

paid for some specific church work. A church has no right to re¬ 
gard the minister’s wife as a parish assistant, whose services are^ 
thrown in with her husband’s. She will, of course, do what she 
can to uphold her husband’s work, but the church should not make 
demands upon her which it would not be justified in making on 
other church members. If her domestic situation is such that she 
is free to accept a salaried position, such as that of school-teacher, 
or to engage in other remunerative employment, that is her business, 
and it does not concern the parish. 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 31 


the chairman—which usually means the chore-boy—of in¬ 
numerable committees, to the grave detriment of his 
primary duties. His parish has a right to expect him to 
limit himself to those few outside interests for which he is 
especially fitted, and in those he should seek rather to be a 
counselor than an active administrator, for his real work 
is to carry on his church and not to run the Associated 
Charities or the School Board or the Public Library. 

The rights of the minister , 11 

The minister on his part has certain rights which the 
parish is under obligation to respect. He has a right to his 
full salary, paid promptly, and to have the parsonage 
properly maintained. He is master in his own pulpit; is 
sole judge of what and how he shall preach, except that he 
may not preach against the “essential doctrines” of his 
church, and that his calling requires him ever to speak the 
truth in love. So long as he remains the pastor of the 
church, and has not been enjoined or suspended by a civil 
or ecclesiastical court, he cannot be excluded from his pul¬ 
pit or from the church building at the time of usual wor¬ 
ship. If the congregation does not like his preaching its 
only redress is to terminate his pastorate in the customary 
way after due notice. Until such actual termination of his 
pastorate he alone has the right to conduct the service and 
to preach, or to invite another to occupy his pulpit. He 
has the sole right to say who shall or shall not preach in 
his pulpit, or with whom he will exchange. If he is wise 
he will not inflict upon his people other ministers whom 
they do not wish to hear, but if he does so their only re¬ 
course is to stay away from church. Another minister 
cannot be put in his place, and the parish can neither 
reduce his salary without his consent, nor refuse to pay it, 
since to do either is to break its contract with him. He 
must, however, conduct himself in such fashion as to cause 
no scandal, and he may not change the customary time or 

11 For many of the points in this and the following section I am 
indebted to three articles by Rev. R. F. Johonnot, LL.B. on ‘ ‘ The 
Legal Relations of the Minister to his Parish/ * in the Universalist 
Leader of May 27, June 3 and 10, 1911. 


32 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


order of service without a vote passed by a majority of the 
members at a regular meeting. He has authority over the 
choir so far as the services of worship are concerned, 
though he may not ask of its members more than their con¬ 
tract stipulates, nor may he dismiss them for non-compli¬ 
ance, though he may insist that the church officers cause 
his wishes to be carried out. 

Although he has the right to the full use of the church 
buildings for all the customary services, he has not, in most 
denominations other than the Protestant Episcopal, a legal 
right to possession of the keys of the church; though as a 
matter of common courtesy, as well as of convenience, he 
should be supplied with a set so that he may have access to 
the building at all times. His authority, however, is lim¬ 
ited to the spiritual administration of his parish. As he 
is not responsible for raising the money by which its activi¬ 
ties are supported, he is equally without power on his own 
initiative to authorize expenditures. He may make no con¬ 
tract binding upon the parish for any supplies, or for 
repairs or alterations to the church property, nor may he 
engage or dismiss employees, such as a sexton, or the choir, 
unless he is acting as the agent of the parish under a formal 
vote of the trustees or congregation. The minister should 
be punctiliously careful not to overstep his authority in 
these matters. 

Furthermore, he may not grant the use of the church 
building or parish house for any purposes outside their 
regular uses, except by consent of the church officers, or, 
in the last resort, of the qualified voters of the church. 
No matter how excellent the cause may be—a public lec¬ 
ture, a meeting in behalf of peace, or for some wholly 
admirable community purpose—if it be other than the 
usual services of worship or a customary activity of some 
church society, permission should always be obtained from 
the church officers. The property does not belong to the 
minister but to the parish, which has the right to say to 
what extent it shall be used for miscellaneous purposes. 
The minister’s right over it is limited to its use for the 
particular purpose for which he is engaged. 

On the other hand, neither the trustees nor the parish 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTER 33 


ought to rent the church property, or permit its use, for 
miscellaneous purposes in the face of the minister’s dis¬ 
approval. They perhaps have the legal right to do so, since 
the property belongs to the parish, but, since their action 
may prove embarrassing to the minister, or prejudicial to 
his reputation in the community, they are morally bound to 
regard his wishes. They should also recognize his authority 
to forbid any line of action detrimental to the moral wel¬ 
fare of the church or subversive of accepted church disci¬ 
pline, even when proposed under the auspices of some 
church organization. Thus the minister is in duty bound to 
put a stop to a raffle if one be introduced at a church fair 
in the parish house, or to forbid dancing or a dramatic 
performance there in those denominations which do not 
sanction such forms of entertainment. 

The minister’s relation to the governing hoard of his 
church. 

The right of the minister to attend the meetings of the 
trustees, prudential committee, vestry, or other governing 
body of the parish, is governed by church law or custom, 
which varies in the different Protestant denominations. In 
the Protestant Episcopal Church the rector always presides 
at meetings of the wardens and vestry. In churches of the 
Congregational order the minister has no legal right to 
attend the meetings of the governing board, and, in prac¬ 
tice, is frequently not invited to do so. The lack of an 
established custom in this respect is frequently a cause of 
misunderstanding and friction, which could easily be obvi¬ 
ated if the governing board would make a point of inviting 
the minister to sit with it habitually, without a vote, reserv¬ 
ing only the right to meet without him or to suggest his 
withdrawal when the matters under consideration are of 
such nature as to make his presence embarrassing. Inas¬ 
much as the minister will naturally hesitate himself to 
propose that he attend meetings of a board of which he is 
not a member, the board should take the initiative in this 
matter at the time of his settlement. 

It is obviously of great advantage to the church that he 
should sit habitually with the governing board, for only so 


34 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


can he keep adequately informed as to the financial condi¬ 
tion and the business problems of the church, and find con¬ 
venient opportunity to present matters which come to his 
attention and to offer suggestions as to the administration 
of the church. Even though he have no direct responsi¬ 
bility either for raising the income of the church or for its 
expenditures, he is nevertheless vitally concerned in its 
financial welfare and should be kept informed as to how 
things are going. It should also be recognized that the 
modern minister is increasingly an administrator, in active 
charge of various departments which call for an expendi¬ 
ture of money. Churches and ministers do, indeed, differ 
greatly among themselves in this respect. Some churches 
look after their business affairs without informing the min¬ 
ister of any details, regarding him as solely the spiritual 
leader. Others expect too much of him, placing upon his 
shoulders many details of parish administration to which 
the laymen, or a hired clerk, ought to attend. Neither atti¬ 
tude is commendable. The wise method is for the laymen 
to administer the temporalities of the parish, but to take 
the minister fully into their confidence, realizing that many 
a modern minister can give expert advice in this field, even 
as to methods of raising money. 

It may often, indeed, prove that the minister will find 
that the business of the church needs a thorough over¬ 
hauling. The constitution and by-laws may be out of date 
or not in accord with the requirements of the state law. 
The church may in practice ignore some of its own by-laws, 
resulting in doubt as to the proper admission of members, 
the accuracy of its voting list, and the validity of its actions 
at business meetings. A parish may run along placidly for 
decades using such improper methods, but behind them 
always lurks the possibility of a disrupting quarrel or 
of a lawsuit, and they are generally symptoms of a slow 
degeneration of the spiritual life. Efficient business man¬ 
agement and careful observance of the legal requirements 
are not “ unspiritual. ” On the contrary, they generally 
indicate a healthy religious condition, for ’they mean that 
the intelligent leaders in the parish, instead of holding an 
attitude of amiable indifference, are taking an active inter- 


THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OP THE MINISTER 35 


est in its work. It is a noteworthy fact that the monasteries 
of the Middle Ages were doing their best service for the 
community in those periods when their business adminis¬ 
tration was most efficient. 

When, therefore, the minister finds himself settled in a 
parish which is badly run on the business side, it is his duty 
as well as his right to propose such new methods as have 
proved successful elsewhere, and the laymen, instead of 
resenting such action as interference, ought to welcome 
such information and advice as he can give them. The 
minister’s success professionally is in a certain degree 
measurable by the growth of his church. To judge his 
value by the increase or decline of its membership or its 
income is, indeed, a very crude test, and sometimes a most 
unfair one. A church may be declining both in members 
and in income because of circumstances over which the 
minister has no control, or, on the other hand, wide popu¬ 
larity may attend a ministry which is thin and poor spir¬ 
itually. Yet it is undeniably a fact that strong, vigorous 
leadership in moral and spiritual things will generally 
manifest itself in the increasing strength and efficiency of 
the parish. Except where conditions are already unfavor¬ 
able a decaying church is generally the result of a weak 
and ineffective ministry. Inasmuch, then, as his profes¬ 
sional success is inevitably to some extent judged by the 
material prosperity of his church, it is no more than just 
that the minister should know the full details of its business 
management. 


CHAPTER III 


THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 

State and church m the United States. 

In the United States the establishment of any church as 
the religion of the state is forbidden in the Federal Con¬ 
stitution. In several of the colonies, however, which pre¬ 
ceded the present Union, one or another form of church 
organization did receive some measure of official recogni¬ 
tion and of support from taxation, although the laws 
governing the church establishment in England did not 
generally extend to the colonies. Massachusetts offers a 
conspicuous example of close connection between church 
and state, for the Colony of Massachusetts Bay was organ¬ 
ized on a frankly theocratic basis. Originally church mem¬ 
bership was the basis for the franchise, until the charter 
granted by William and Mary substituted a property qual¬ 
ification therefor. In 1692 the General Court passed a law 
requiring each town to provide for the maintenance of an 
“able, learned, orthodox minister or ministers of good con¬ 
versation.” Curiously enough Boston was the only town 
in which the ministers were maintained by voluntary con¬ 
tributions. The churches thus maintained by public 
taxation were those of the Congregational order, and the 
religious history of the colony from the middle of the sev¬ 
enteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century is marked 
by the constant struggle of Baptists, Quakers, and Episco¬ 
palians to obtain release from those taxes. Quakers were 
relieved from such taxation in 1731, Baptists in 1734, and 
Episcopalians in 1742, and all taxation in support of 
churches was abolished in 1833. Somewhat similar condi¬ 
tions, varying according to the local situation, prevailed in 
New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. 


THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OP THE CHURCH 37 


So far as the Federal Government is concerned, church 
societies have always been regarded as private corporations, 
all being treated on an impartial and equal basis. The 
state does not recognize denominations as a whole as cor¬ 
porations, except in the case of the Roman Catholic Church 
in the Philippines, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. 
In the United States the Roman Church is a hierarchy, not 
a corporation. 1 So, also, the various Protestant bodies are 
not corporations as such, though their local churches and 
many organizations for denominational purposes are gen¬ 
erally incorporated. 

The state does not recognize canon law as having any 
jurisdiction where it comes into conflict with state law, 
though in other cases canon law or customary usage is taken 
into consideration as governing the action of churches. 
Any church, however, must obey the statutory law gov¬ 
erning corporations, even when that law does not coincide 
with the canon law, for the charter under which it operates 
is binding upon it, though its own by-laws are also binding 
in so far as they are not contradictory to the provisions of 
the charter. 

Almost all church societies are now incorporated. The 
exceptions are a limited number of old churches which go 
back to colonial times, antedating the existing laws, and a 
few churches informally organized as voluntary associa¬ 
tions, the property of which is held in trust by one or more 
individuals or by some denominational body. While it is 
not obligatory upon a church to incorporate, it is very 
desirable that every new organization should do so, at least 
as soon as it has passed the tentative, experimental stage, 
and can look forward to some degree of permanence. 

Types of church corporations 2 : 

(a) The territorial parish. 

The English colonists who settled the Atlantic seaboard 
brought with them the conception of a parish as including 
a territorial area, the inhabitants of which were parish- 

tollman, “American Civil Church Law,” pp. 47-49. 

a See Zollman, op. cit., Chap. II. 


38 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


ioners of the local church. Therefore both in New England 
and in some of the other seaboard colonies the original 
form of organization was that of the territorial parish sup¬ 
ported by taxation. Ministers were elected by the voting 
members of the church in Massachusetts, and inasmuch 
11 as church members only could become freemen and hence 
voters in town affairs, this was practically equivalent to 
the election of a minister by the town in those towns of the 
province which still had but one church. ’ ’ 3 In such cases 
the parochial business was transacted at town meetings, 
any given meeting commonly being engaged with both 
parish and town affairs, carried out under the same forms 
of procedure. 4 Where a church had settled a minister it 
was liable for his salary, even though there might be in 
the town other religious societies, the members of which 
might be exempted by law from contributing to his 
support. 5 

This ancient conception of the territorial parish as a 
legal organization has disappeared in New England, and 
probably everywhere else in this country, but traces of it 
are still to be found in the dual organization of church and 
parish which persists in some places. In this dual organiza¬ 
tion the church consists of persons who have been admitted 
to church membership and who have the right to call the 
minister; the parish consists of members of the congregation 
who have signed the parish-book and who control the tem¬ 
poral affairs of the establishment, but who also have the 
right to approve or reject the minister nominated by the 
church. This dual organization, which still prevails in a 
good many old New England churchqs, is a thoroughly 
undesirable one, leading to confusion, controversy and 
inefficiency, and should be done away with. It is often no 
easy matter to solve the legal tangle in which most churches 
so organized eventually find themselves, each case requiring 
special consideration and expert advice. A solution can be 
found in most cases, however, where there is good will and 
a sincere desire to reorganize the church on a modern basis. 

3 Reed, (i Church and State in Massachusetts . f 1 

A Mass. Digest, Vol. VI, col. 12735. 

•Mass. Digest, Vol. VI, col. 12736. 


THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 39 


Both competent legal counsel, and the advice of wise 
denominational officers, are essential. 

(b) The corporation sole. 

The corporation sole is a legal entity consisting of one 
person at a time who is vested with duties and privileges 
which pass to his successor when appointed—thus in Eng¬ 
land the king, as such, is a corporation sole. 6 So, also, in 
England, clergymen in some instances may, by virtue of 
their position, be in possession of lands or property, and 
therefore corporations sole. The corporation sole in a mod¬ 
ernized form is occasionally found in this country in cases 
where a minister may hold parsonage lands in fee simple, 
or in Episcopally organized churches in which a bishop 
may hold properties assigned to his use or control by virtue 
of his office. He may, for example, hold the title to the 
property of some particular local church. This would 
appear to be an undesirable arrangement, even in an auto¬ 
cratically governed church, save under quite exceptional 
circumstances. 

(c) The “trustee corporation.” 

In this form of corporation the body of trustees, as such, 
may be incorporated by special charter, or under a general 
statute. They then own and manage the property for the 
benefit of the church, though they need not be members of 
the church, or may even be excommunicated from it. 
Every contract of the society, to be legally binding on the 
corporation, must be made or ratified by the trustees, who 
thus have a veto power over the society’s actions. This 
form of incorporation is often found in churches of Pres¬ 
byterian organization. It tends to conservative manage¬ 
ment and to maintenance of the status quo , being rigid 
and inflexible. Where ministers complain of difficulties 
with church trustees they generally refer to churches thus 
organized. 

(d) The corporation aggregate. 

This is the commonest and simplest form of modern 
church incorporation, by which the title to whatever prop- 

6 Zollman, op. tit., p. 43. 


40 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


erty the church possesses is vested in the whole body 
corporate. This body is composed of all those persons who 
have complied with the terms of membership, as defined in 
the statutes governing church bodies, or in the by-laws 
of,the church society, which must not, however, conflict with 
the statute. In such corporations the officers of the society, 
though often called trustees, are not such legally, since they 
do not hold the property in trust for the society, but are 
in reality directors, like the directors of a bank, being 
merely the agents of the society. This is the most demo¬ 
cratic form of church incorporation, and is best adapted 
to autonomous bodies. 

The by-laws of the society. 

The by-laws should be drawn in accord with the laws of 
the state in which the society is located. Where they do 
not agree the statutes prevail. Many churches operate 
under antiquated by-laws, or without due regard to their 
provisions. Such procedure is liable to end in disaster. 
Therefore every church should occasionally overhaul its 
by-laws, under legal advice, to make sure that they are 
adequate and in accord with the state law. 

Church membership. 

Membership in the church does not necessarily carry 
with it the right to vote. For example, some churches may 
admit to membership young people who are still minors 
and are therefore disqualified. On the other hand, in some 
churches persons who are not members may nevertheless 
have a vote, as in the case of pew-owners in a proprietary 
church—a thoroughly undesirable situation which should 
be rectified when opportunity permits. 

Broadly speaking, however, membership carries with it 
the right to vote, providing certain conditions as to resi¬ 
dence, church attendance, financial contribution, and ac¬ 
ceptance into the membership of the church have been 
fulfilled. These conditions vary widely in different denom¬ 
inations and states, so that no universal rule can be laid 
down. The right to vote is governed by the church by¬ 
laws, and by statute law, which prevails in case of conflict. 


THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 41 


Generally that right is limited to persons of full age, who 
have statedly worshiped with the church for one year next 
preceding the annual meeting of the society, and who have 
either regularly contributed to its financial support or 
been publicly received into its membership in the pre¬ 
scribed manner. Church officers should be acquainted with 
the law of the state in this matter, and the church by-laws 
should be amended, if necessary, to accord therewith. In 
view of the bitter controversies and the legal entangle¬ 
ments which may arise from disputes over the legality of 
a vote, it is of the first importance that the voting-lists of 
the church should be accurately kept up. 

The by-laws should always contain a provision, in accord 
with the statute, for the dismissal and the expulsion of 
members. No person can be expelled from church member¬ 
ship without due notice being served upon him, or without 
an opportunity for a hearing. There must be adequate 
reasons for the proposed action. For example, mere failure 
to make financial contribution is not legal ground for 
expulsion. 

The governing hoard of the church. 7 

The governing board of the church, whether known as 
wardens and vestry, board of trustees, prudential com¬ 
mittee, standing committee, or by some other title, is elected 
by the voting members of the church, to whom it is respon¬ 
sible. The method of organizing such a governing board 
is sometimes prescribed, within wide limits, by statute, but 
is more generally determined by the by-laws of the church 
itself. The best form of organization is one which provides 
for a board of moderate size—not less than seven, or more 
than fifteen persons—elected at annual meetings of the 
society for limited terms, so that a part of the board goes 
out of office each year. The most convenient method is to 
divide the board into three groups, elected for three years 
each, so that one-third of the board goes out of office each 
year. Such an arrangement will secure sufficient conti¬ 
nuity of policy and yet will offer opportunity for the 
annual infusion of new blood into the board. Both men 
*See Zollman, op. tit., Chap. XIII. 


42 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


and women should be eligible. Where the church is suf¬ 
ficiently large to provide a considerable number of suitable 
candidates for the board, provision may be made that no 
person shall be eligible for reelection until at least one year 
has elapsed after he has gone out of office. Such a pro¬ 
vision greatly simplifies the problem of eliminating from 
the board members who have become superannuated, or 
whom, for one or another reason, it is desirable to super¬ 
sede. 

The board is charged with the management of the 
church property. The amount of real estate and of endow¬ 
ment funds which the church may hold is generally limited 
by law. In some states, in which the amounts were fixed 
many years ago, there are no doubt many churches which 
today actually do hold lands or endowments much in 
excess of the legal limits. In such states legislation should 
be sought to fix new limits which will meet the needs of 
modern society. In law every religious society is a 
‘ ‘ charity, ’ ’ holding its property for the benefit of the com¬ 
munity. If it is* disbanded the property may not be divided 
among the church members, but is subject to disposition 
by court action. The board should hold regularly called 
meetings for the transaction of its business, at least as often 
as once a quarter, preferably every month, except during 
vacation periods. It cannot properly transact business at 
informal or impromptu meetings, except in emergencies, in 
which cases its action should be formally ratified at its 
next regular meeting. The board should also keep a full 
record of its proceedings, and it must be prepared to report 
its doings to the society for which it acts. 

The board may “bind the body upon all contracts within 
the scope of its corporate powers, ’ ’ 8 but if it goes beyond 
those powers the individual members of the board become 
responsible for the contract. It has power to transact the 
ordinary business of the church, but the authority to call 
or dismiss a minister, and to fix his salary, rests with the 
society, nor can the board authorize any extraordinary 
expenditures without vote of the society. It is highly im¬ 
portant that the board should carefully conform to the 
8 Zollman, op. cit., p. 375. 


THE LEGAL ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 43 


requirements of the statutes and the church by-laws 
governing its action that it may avoid any shadow of 
illegality on its proceedings. 

The church officers. 

These usually include the chairman and secretary of the 
board, and the treasurer of the church. They may be 
elected by the society itself, generally for a one-year-term, 
or the by-laws may provide that the board, after its elec¬ 
tion by the society, shall choose its officers for the year 
from among its members. They have the usual duties of 
such officers, and are responsible also for the preservation 
of order at religious services and at business meetings, with 
authority to remove offenders against good order, though 
they may use no greater force than is necessary for the 
purpose. It is obvious that they should be representative 
men and women in whom the parish has confidence. When 
the secretary and treasurer are satisfactory, it is advanta¬ 
geous to have them serve for considerable periods, but the 
practice of an indefinite term of office is so undesirable that 
it is wise to adopt a by-law providing for a slow rotation 
of office, even though that means that occasionally some 
particularly valuable officer becomes ineligible for reelec¬ 
tion. Otherwise there is always danger that some person 
will hold on to his post year after year, although the wel¬ 
fare of the church calls for his retirement. To get rid of 
such a person without a controlling by-law is always a 
delicate and difficult matter. 

It is better that the treasurer should be bonded, even 
though this involves some inconvenience. It is essential 
that he be a man of thorough probity, acquainted with 
accounting methods, but the men who are themselves in 
charge of large business affairs do not necessarily make 
the best church treasurers. The church business is likely 
to seem a small matter to them, to be handed over to a 
clerk to look after in his spare time. A man in a small 
business, if he be conscientious and painstaking, is more 
likely to prove efficient. In a considerable church the 
treasurer should have an allowance for clerk hire; in a 
very large church he may be a salaried officer, 


44 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The conduct of parish meetings. 

It is essential that all business meetings of the society, 
whether the annual meeting or those called for some special 
purpose, should be conducted in accordance with both the 
statutes governing church corporations and the by-laws of 
the society itself. First of all, a legal call for the meeting 
must be issued, in due season, to all voting members, by 
notice posted in the prescribed form at the church door, 
or sent through the mails, as may be required. Such 
notice must state the business to be brought before the 
meeting. It is the duty of the secretary to see that such 
notice is properly given. “Objection to the invalidity of 
a call may not, however, be made by an outsider, nor by a 
member of the society except at the time of the meeting. ’ ’ 9 

Second, the secretary should have at the meeting an 
accurate list of all persons entitled to vote, so that a 
prompt decision may be made if the right of any voter is 
challenged, but it is not necessary that this list should be 
read at the beginning of the meeting, as under ordinary 
circumstances no question as to the vote is likely to arise. 

In the third place, the parish meeting must be conducted 
by the chairman with due regard to parliamentary law. 
Motions must be properly made, seconded, and put to the 
vote. Except in matters where there is general accord the 
chairman should require the motion to be put in writing 
and should have it read aloud before the vote is taken. A 
strict adherence to rules requires the minutes to be written 
out and read to the meeting before adjournment, but this 
is ordinarily dispensed with when there is full confidence 
in the secretary and no serious dispute in the transaction 
of business. If the meeting, however, has been much 
divided, such approval of the minutes before the meeting 
adjourns may prevent a later controversy as to their 
accuracy. 

•Zollman, op. tit., p. 365. 


. CHAPTER IV 


THE WORKING ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 

The church’s field of service. 

The work of most churches may conveniently be divided 
into seven fields, namely, the conduct of worship, religious 
education, pastoral care, missionary interests, community 
service, social activities, and business administration. The 
degree of emphasis on these several activities will vary 
greatly in different parishes, but each activity is repre¬ 
sented in some degree in every church which is fulfilling 
all its normal functions. The conduct of worship is, of 
course, the primary function of the church, upon which all 
its other activities depend, and without which it soon ceases 
to be a church at all. The business administration of the 
church exists only to sustain and make possible the other 
activities. The most successful church is not necessarily 
that which has the largest membership or commands most 
wealth, but rather that in which all these several fields of 
service are so thoroughly organized and interrelated that 
the members constitute a harmonious working fellowship 
for the promotion of the moral and spiritual welfare of 
the community. 

The minister as directing head. 

The minister has primary responsibility for the conduct 
of worship, the pastoral duties, and such religious educa¬ 
tion as the church undertakes. But he is also the general 
administrative head of the whole enterprise, with respon¬ 
sibility for framing the policies to be pursued and for 
persuading the governing board and the society to adopt 
them. With some exceptions, he must also recruit the 
working staff of the church, though in certain cases he must 

45 


46 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


secure the assent of other persons. The exceptions are the 
employment of the sexton, who is usually engaged by the 
grounds and buildings committee, and the organist and 
choir, who are usually engaged by the music committee, in 
both cases subject to the approval of the governing board. 
The minister should, however, also be consulted, to make 
sure that the candidates for these positions are acceptable 
to him. The minister has no power definitely to engage any 
other paid worker for the church, such as an office secre¬ 
tary, Sunday-School teacher, parish assistant, or assistant 
minister, unless specially authorized to act as agent for the 
governing board, but it is customary for him to select such 
assistants, subject to the approval of the board.. In the 
selection of volunteer workers he is usually given a free 
hand, and often must act on his own initiative if he is to 
get any helpers at all, but if he is wise he will consult in 
advance either the officers of the church or the standing 
committee which has charge of each particular field of 
work. Thus in choosing his Sunday-School teachers he 
ought, if only as a matter of courtesy, to consult the Sun¬ 
day-School committee before making appointments. 

So far as possible the minister should be relieved from 
the burden of detailed administrative chores, which should 
be turned over to the various parish committees or to a 
salaried staff. Most Protestant churches in this country 
are still run on a one-man basis inherited from a very sim¬ 
ple social order, the minister being expected to fulfill single- 
handed the offices of preacher, pastor, and administrator. 
That was possible for the minister in the village or country 
life of seventeenth-century England, such as is described in 
Baxter’s “Reformed Pastor” or Herbert’s “Country 
Parson,” or such as prevailed in the eighteenth and early 
nineteenth century in this country. But the modern social 
order is immensely more complex, geared to a far higher 
speed, imposing indefinitely heavier burdens upon the min¬ 
ister. Very few men can regularly preach well, keep in 
constant touch with their whole parish as counselor and 
friend, and also be thoroughly efficient in administration, 
if loaded down with petty details. 

A church must take its choice. If it wants good preach- 


WORKING ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 47 


ing and faithful pastoral service it must give its minister 
time for reading and thought, and for unhurried, friendly 
intercourse with his people. To that end it must relieve 
him, so far as possible, from the drudgery that an office 
clerk could do as well, or better. To leave him to keep 
up the church records and files, to write his correspond¬ 
ence and his sermons with his own hand, to lay out all the 
church work unaided, is very poor economy, since it means 
wasting the time of a trained expert. The minister in a 
country parish may have the time for such details, and it 
may* be impossible to secure for him any paid assistance, 
but that ought not to be the case in any moderate-sized 
town, much less in a considerable city. Even in a town of 
a few thousand people the grocer or the dry-goods mer¬ 
chant will employ several clerks, but the grocer’s and the 
merchant’s minister, with a parish of several hundred 
souls r will be left to carry his burden unassisted. The 
most modest lawyer’s office has at least a stenographer to 
write letters and to answer the telephone. The ^lawyer 
does not dream of writing out his briefs with his own hand, 
but dictates them, corrects the drafts and has them retyped 
for him. Yet often the lawyer cannot see why the minister 
should need a stenographer, though he has perhaps as much 
correspondence to keep up, and could save a great deal of 
valuable time by learning to dictate his sermons, to be 
rewritten in a fair copy after revision. 

This shortsighted and antiquated policy is at least a par¬ 
tial explanation of the lamentable inefficiency of many 
Protestant churches. The minister is compelled to work 
with eighteenth-century tools instead of being given a 
twentieth-century equipment. Roman Catholic parishes 
offer a suggestive contrast. A single example, recently 
called to the writer’s attention, will suffice. In a certain 
New England town stands the First Church, a fine old 
meeting-house capable of seating several hundred people. 
The building is open on Sundays only, and, except for the 
sexton and the organist, the minister carries on the work 
alone, save for volunteer assistance. But the Roman Catho¬ 
lic church in the next block has a staff of twenty-seven paid 
workers, who keep the church constantly in full activity. 


48 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


It is like a ship fully manned; able to take advantage of 
every wind and tide, whereas the Protestant church is like 
a vessel which must slowly pick its way under shortened 
sail because its crew is too small properly to work the ship. 

The paid staff. 

Every minister in such a church should be provided 
with an office secretary—a stenographer to attend to the 
correspondence and the files—and a parish assistant, whose 
primary business is to take charge of the Sunday-School, 
under the minister’s direction, and to do much of the other 
administrative work of the church. In a larger church 
there will also be more than one minister. The work should 
be carefully divided among them, each having a permanent 
and distinct field with no overlapping, and the clergy staff 
should be regarded as partners associated in a common 
enterprise, the senior minister being the directing head, 
rather than the employer of a group of office boys. 1 

Volunteer workers. 

In any church, however, much of the work will inevitably 
fall to volunteer workers, and this is right, for such work 
is one of their opportunities for Christian service. The 
minister will ordinarily select the personnel, seek to inspire 
them with his ideals, and strive to hold them to a faithful 
performance of their duties. It is often difficult to per¬ 
suade the right people to serve, and volunteers are more 
difficult to control and direct, even when they are 
thoroughly conscientious, since they feel more free to ab¬ 
sent themselves from duty, more easily take offense than do 
paid employees, and, even with the best intentions, lack the 
technique of the trained worker. Success with them lies 
in developing esprit de corps, pride in their work, and a 
realization of their value to the church. 

1 See * 1 The Administration of an Institutional Church , 1 * 
Hodges and Reichert, section on The Staff, pp. 3-12, for a de¬ 
scription of the duties of assistant clergy in a highly organized 
church. 


WORKING ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 49 


The standing committees. 

In most churches, besides the governing board, there will 
be certain standing committees, elected annually by the 
parish. These are likely to be a committee on grounds and 
buildings, 2 a music committee, 3 a committee on benevolences 
and missions, a membership committee, a social-service com¬ 
mittee, a Sunday-School committee, and a hospitality or 
visiting committee. 4 Care should be taken to define clearly 
the work and authority of all committees, so that they shall 
not overlap. As many different people as possible should 
be enlisted for service, so that no one person shall be over¬ 
loaded. All committees should be expected to report in 
writing at the annual meeting of the parish. There will 
probably also be separate organizations of the women, the 
men, and the young people. It is not advisable for the 
minister to be on all these committees, though he may sit 
with them when occasion arises, but he should always be 
a member of the committees on membership, benevolence, 
and the Sunday-School, and perhaps on social service. 

The young people should be drafted into service as 
rapidly as possible, first to usher or take the collection or 
to look after the flowers on the pulpit; then into the Sun¬ 
day-School as teachers, and as members of the various com¬ 
mittees. From the committees the most valuable workers 
can be drafted on to the governing board. Both the board 
and the committees should be representative of the church 
as a whole, and by rotation of office new and young blood 
should be annually infused into the organization. 

The educational work of the church . 

The church must always exercise a teaching function, 
both from the pulpit and in the Sunday-School. In a small 
church the minister may have to take charge of the church 
school, but this should be avoided when possible. If the 
school comes immediately before the morning service, the 
minister enters the pulpit having already expended his first 

a See pp. 63-65, 91-92. 

8 See Chap. XI. 

* See Chap. XIII. 


50 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


strength and freshness; if it follows the service he must 
hurry from the pulpit to the Sunday-School room, with 
scant time to see people who want to talk with him. There¬ 
fore, the Sunday-School should be run by the parish assist¬ 
ant, or by some other person as superintendent, though 
the minister will do well to take part occasionally, if not 
habitually, in either the opening or the closing service, and 
he should teach the senior class of boys and girls, at least 
as they approach the time of confirmation. This is an 
opportunity which he should never willingly relinquish to 
others. He should also take charge of the week-night 
teachers’ meeting for instruction and counsel, and should 
confer frequently with the parish assistant regarding prob¬ 
lems which arise. 

The social life of the church. 

No church should ever be thought of as an ecclesiastical 
club, where people of one social group gather for the sat¬ 
isfaction of their own souls, but rather as a household of 
faith, where young and old, rich and poor, people of many 
varied walks in life, come together for the upbuilding of 
the kingdom of God. It is easier to bring about religious 
fellowship than social intermingling in such a varied 
group, especially in large cities, where many people find 
their social life entirely outside of the churches. Never¬ 
theless the social life of the church may mean much not 
only to the lonely stranger but to long-established members 
of the church. The hospitality or visiting committee should 
be active in welcoming newcomers. Parish suppers, church 
fairs, club gatherings, young people’s dances or dramatic 
performances, where permitted, should be utilized for the 
incorporation of newcomers into the life of the church. All 
such occasions should be managed with complete disregard 
of social distinctions or class lines, which have no place in 
church life. To that end it is better to have the social 
gatherings of the parish in the parish house, or in the par¬ 
sonage if its accommodations permit, rather than at the 
private house of some wealthy parishioner, to which the 
poorer people of the parish may hesitate to go, feeling that 
they do not belong to the owner’s 4 ‘social set.” In every 


WORKING ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH 51 


case care should be taken to avoid the impression that the 
aim is merely to have a good time, the true purpose being 
to serve some end in the church life. 

Social service. 

The church itself may not be engaged directly in any 
form of organized social service for the community, but it 
is bound to make an indirect contribution thereto, through 
the activities of some of its members, and should be kept 
informed of the work of social-welfare agencies in the com¬ 
munity. The social-service committee should therefore 
include such members of the church as are best informed 
upon these matters, so that it may serve as a medium of 
communication between the church and the community. 

The part which the minister takes in such matters will 
depend greatly upon his capacities and interests, as well 
as upon local conditions. An able and public-spirited min¬ 
ister, especially if long settled, will often become a coun¬ 
selor-at-large to the community, in which nothing of public 
importance will be done without his knowledge and advice. 
This is an enviable position for him to occupy, with large 
possibilities of public service. Such general use of his in¬ 
fluence is wiser than an undue expenditure of his time and 
strength upon the details of particular forms of community 
work. He may profitably give the initiatory impulse to 
many a helpful activity, but he will do well to transfer the 
active management to other hands at an early date. 

The parish as a cooperative enterprise. 

In the ideal parish every member will feel his responsi¬ 
bility for the welfare of his church, and will make what 
contribution he can towards its corporate life. Every mem¬ 
ber should give according to his means, no matter how 
small, but the full privileges of the church life should be 
equally open to all members regardless of the size of their 
respective contributions. He should also bear in mind his 
obligation to give of his time and service, as well as of 
means, and should count habitual attendance at worship 
as part of such contribution. 

Cooperation with the minister is also essential to the 


52 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


success of the enterprise. When a new minister comes the 
members can, if they will, do much to introduce him prop¬ 
erly to the community by seeing that he has opportunities 
to appear or to speak at public meetings. They should 
publicly give their moral support to the work which their 
church is doing. They should keep the minister informed 
as to the names and addresses of newcomers on whom he 
should call; of cases of illness, accident, or misfortune 
among his parishioners, instead of leaving him to learn of 
them in roundabout ways; and they should notify him 
promptly of changes of address, so that the parish lists 
may be kept up to date, and the minister saved perhaps 
miles of walking to call upon people who have moved with¬ 
out leaving an address behind. The parish which remem¬ 
bers to do all these things has attained to an efficient 
organization. 


CHAPTER V 


THE PARISH RECORDS 

The value of 'parish records. 

The parish registers of the Church of England originated 
from an order promulgated in the thirtieth year of Henry 
VIII, 1538, requiring churches to keep a register of bap¬ 
tisms. When Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 the or¬ 
der was reaffirmed, and the registers were made to include 
marriages and burials as well. Canon 70, of the canons 
of the Church of England, in 1603 laid down a still more 
detailed rule on the subject, modified in detail only since 
that date. Most old parishes in England, therefore, possess 
registers of baptisms, marriages and burials going back to 
the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign. These English parish 
registers are of incalculable historic and legal value. To 
take but one example: we should probably be ignorant of 
the date of William Shakespeare’s birth were it not for 
the register of the parish church at Stratford-on-Avon, 
which contains the record of his baptism on April 26, 
1564. As it was the custom at that time to baptize chil¬ 
dren when they were about three days old his birth is com¬ 
monly reckoned as occurring on April 23, 1564. In this 
country the registration of marriages is included in the 
town or county records, as are now also the registrations 
of births and deaths in the better organized communities, 
so that the legal importance of church records at the pres¬ 
ent day is much less than was the case in England. Never¬ 
theless occasions not infrequently arise when the evidence 
which they have to offer is of legal value, and, in the case 
of our older churches, the records often contain information 
for historians and genealogists which cannot elsewhere be 
found. 


53 


54 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The records of the trustees and of the business meetings 
of the church, and the lists of voting members, are of even 
greater importance for the legal organization of the church 
and in securing title to its property. In spite of this fact 
there are few matters of parish administration about which 
the average Protestant church is more lax and careless 
than in the proper keeping of its records. Especially is 
this the case where there is no centralized authority in the 
person of a bishop to put pressure upon the minister or 
the church officers to fulfill their duty in this matter. In 
the Roman Catholic Church the priest is under obligation 
to keep in a safe place the registers of baptisms, marriages, 
confirmations and funerals conducted in his parish church, 
as well as a complete collection of all the documents relat¬ 
ing to the church or mission and a file of all pastorals and 
other communications coming from his bishop, and neglect 
of this duty is certain to call forth censure when the bishop 
makes his visitation. In most Protestant bodies, however, 
the responsibility for the proper keeping of records rests 
wholly upon the individual parish. If the church officers 
are careless valuable records are liable to be lost. If the 
minister is negligent the parish registers are liable to fall 
into arrears, though the fact may not come to light for 
years. Often old and important churches will show bad 
gaps in their records, especially in the registers of chris¬ 
tenings, marriages, and funerals. Generally such gaps 
occur between pastorates, but every now and then there is 
a minister who simply neglects to enter such services in the 
books, perhaps over a period of several years, and who 
dies or goes away leaving behind him this sin of omission 
to testify to future generations as to his neglect of duty. 

The records as church property. 

All the parish records are the property of the church, 
except the minister’s private record book, which will be 
discussed hereafter. The minister and church officers 
should realize that they hold these books in trust, and that 
they are under obligation to keep them in a safe place, and 
to see that all entries are promptly and accurately made. 
The books or files should not be left in the hands of 


THE PARISH RECORDS 


55 


irresponsible individuals, or stored in private houses, or in 
business offices. There are many instances of the loss of 
valuable records belonging to historic churches which have 
been left in the keeping of some private individual, and 
which, after his death, have been lost through the igno¬ 
rance or carelessness of his heirs. Old records which are 
historically valuable and which cannot be replaced should 
be kept in a fireproof safe or deposited in the town library 
or other accessible place, instead of being dumped into a 
trunk in some out-of-the-way corner in the church base¬ 
ment. Current records should be kept either in the church 
office, if there be one, or in the minister’s study, or in the 
possession of the church officer who for the time being is 
responsible for them, but their whereabouts should always 
be known to more than one person. Neither the minister 
nor church officers should retain the parish record books 
or files after ceasing to hold office, but should see that they 
are deposited in safe hands to be turned over to their suc¬ 
cessors in office. Inasmuch as these records are church 
property, the church should, of course, meet the cost of 
the necessary equipment. Neither the minister nor an 
officer of the church should be expected to pay out of his 
own pocket for materials which are in fact as much a part 
of the equipment of the church as the hymn books or the 
heating plant. In some states the law requires that when 
a church is disbanded its records be deposited with the 
town clerk. 

The materials needed. 

The necessary record books should be made of a good, 
durable paper and substantially bound, and there should 
be a filing cabinet to hold books, documents and correspond¬ 
ence, and card catalogues for current parish lists. The 
following items will be necessary in most churches for the 
proper keeping of the records: 

(a) A record book in which should be entered the record 
of all business meetings of the parish or society. If there 
be a dual organization, as in some old New England 
churches in which the “church” and the “parish,” or the 
“proprietors” and the “society,” meet separately, there 


56 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


should be two books, one for each body, that the records 
may be kept separate. 

(6) A record book for all meetings for the board of 
trustees, wardens and vestry, standing committee, or what¬ 
ever else be the official designation of the governing board 
of the church. 

(c) A book for the treasurer in which the church ac¬ 
counts should be kept. 

(d) A record book or file for each permanent organiza¬ 
tion or standing committee within the parish, at least if it 
handles money. Thus the Sunday-School should have its 
own records of receipts and expenditures, attendance, etc. 

( e) A register in which should be entered all baptisms, 
marriages, and funerals conducted in the church. In a 
large church in which such services are very frequent it is 
often better to have three different books. Some churches 
use printed forms, mounted in blocks, for these special 
services, either of their own devising, or procured from a 
denominational publishing house. Where such forms are 
used they may be treated as permanent records by being 
pasted into a book arranged for that purpose, but it is bet¬ 
ter to regard them merely as temporary memoranda and 
to transfer the entries in chronological order to blank 
books, taking care to use a good ink which will not fade. It 
is important that the record should give all the necessary 
information, and it is, therefore, desirable that a standard 
form be used. In the “Administration of an Institutional 
Church” 1 there is a detailed description of the way in 
which the registers of St. George’s Church in New York 
have been kept. Few churches, perhaps, can imitate St. 
George’s in the care with which its administration has been 
worked out, but the following forms, based upon those used 
in St. George’s Church, should be used in the keeping of 
the records of any church. The standard form for the 
baptismal record should be as follows: 

1 Hodges and Reichert, op. tit., Chap. III. 


THE PARISH RECORDS 

BAPTISMAL RECORD 


57 


Full name of person baptized. 

Names of parents . 

Residence . 

Names of sponsors. 

Date and place of birth . 

Date and place of baptism. 

Officiating clergyman . 

When the entry is transferred to the record book it will 
read as follows: 

Baptized: William Smith, eldest child of George and Susanna 
(Jones) Smith of 1919 Oakwood Boulevard, Chicago, Ill.; 
sponsors, Abraham Smith and Sarah Jones. Bora, Chicago, 
Ill., July 4, 1917, baptized Aug. 21, 1917, All Souls’ Church, 
Canterbury, Mich. 

{Signed) John Doe, Minister. 

The following is the form for a marriage record: 

MARRIAGE RECORD 

Full name, age, color and address of bridegroom ..... 


Full name, age, color and address of bride 


[bachelor # (spinster 

Bridegrooms divorced Brides widow 

[widower [divorced 

Date of marriage . 

Place of marriage ... 

Intended residence of married couple. 

Officiating minister . 

When the entry is transferred it will read as follows: 

Married: George Smith (42, widower, white), of Chicago, 
Ill., and Susanna Jones (24, spinster, white), of Canterbury, 
Mich., on May 25, 1916, in All Souls’ Church, Canterbury, Mich. 
Future residence, 1919 Oakwood Boulevard, Chicago, Ill. 

(Signed) John Doe, Minister . 

















58 THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 

The following is the form for a funeral record: 

FUNERAL RECORD 

Full name of deceased . 

Residence. 

Date and place of death.. 

Cause of death . 

Date and place of funeral service. 

Place o f .*.*•'•'• 

Undertaker ... 

Officiating clergyman . 

When the entry is transferred it will read as follows: 

Funeral: George Smith, of 115 Euclid Avenue, Canterbury, 
Mich., d. Jan. 1, 1922, age 47 years, 6 mos., of pneumonia, at 
Chicago. Funeral at his residence; burial in All Souls’ Cemetery, 
Jan. 3, 1922; Jeremiah Graves, undertaker. 

{Signed) John Doe, Minister. 

All such services, when conducted within the church, 
should be entered in the registers, and services for persons 
connected with the parish even when they take place at a 
private house. The minister may use his discretion about 
including in the parish registers services which he performs 
for strangers at ojher places, as, for example, when he 
is away on his vacation. He should, of course, make 
entries of these services also in his private record book, 
but they are not properly a part of the parish records. In 
case of doubt, however, it is better for him to err upon the 
side of inclusiveness, and to enter the items in the parish 
registers. 

It is important that all entries should be made promptly, 
at the time of the service. Otherwise, the minister is 
liable to find it very difficult to obtain the information 
which he should have. He should never content himself 
with jotting down a memorandum of the service and thrust¬ 
ing it into his pocket or dropping it into a drawer to be 
entered later when a number of such items have collected. 
Loose memoranda have a way of disappearing, or the min- 











THE PARISH RECORDS 


59 


ister may die suddenly, or remove at short notice to another 
locality without having time to make his entries. It takes 
but a few moments to enter each service as it occurs, but it 
is a long and tedious task to write up records when they 
fall into arrears for many weeks or months. 

Many persons like to have signed certificates of their 
marriage, or of the christening of their children. Such 
certificates have now no legal value, but the custom of 
giving them is a pleasant one. If the minister uses them he 
should avoid the cheap, sentimental forms decorated with 
cherubs, doves, or wedding bells, in favor of a simple and 
dignified engraved form. 

(/) There should be a family record, in which should be 
entered detailed information about each family or individ¬ 
ual belonging to the church. Some denominational pub¬ 
lishing houses print loose-leaf forms for such family rec¬ 
ords, or have large filing cards of standard size. The use 
of such movable cards or leaves is better for this purpose 
than a bound book, since it more readily permits of the 
unceasing revision which the family record requires. When 
an individual dies, or a family removes to another com¬ 
munity, the leaf or card can be taken out of the record 
and filed among the permanent archives. It should not, 
of course, be destroyed, but filed where it can be found if 
later reference to it is necessary. This record of families 
and individuals belonging to the church is for the use and 
information of the minister and the parish assistant, and 
should not be open to general inspection. It will prove of 
great assistance to the minister in keeping track of his peo¬ 
ple, and is invaluable to a new minister when he takes 
charge of the church. From this record the minister can 
easily make up, at the end of each year, his report of 
deaths, withdrawals or accessions. Needless to say, its 
value largely depends upon its being kept up to date. 

(g) Another form of record useful to a minister in a 
busy and active parish, though not essential to good ad¬ 
ministration, is a calendar of the church year, in which 
are filed memoranda relating to parish activities—dates 
for trustees’ meetings, church suppers, special collections, 
special services, notes as to sermon themes, Scripture read- 


60 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


ings and hymns appropriate to the varying seasons of the 
church year. Such a file must be gradually built up, but 
will eventually be valuable as a labor-saving device to the 
minister in planning his work in advance. 2 

(h) A scrapbook will be found useful for the preserva¬ 
tion of fugitive items—church calendars, programs, news¬ 
paper clippings, and other material otherwise easily lost. 
Every piece of printed matter issued by the church should 
be thus preserved. Each item should be corrected when 
it is entered, if it contains erroneous statements. 

(i) Two card catalogues should be provided, preferably 
in a two-drawer filing box, which should contain in one 
drawer a mailing list with the names of all the persons 
connected with the parish, filed in alphabetical order, and 
in the other a calling list for the minister, in which the 
names of all persons in the parish are filed by the streets 
on which they live. Cards of different colors may be used 
in these card catalogues to indicate the various relation¬ 
ships which the persons entered bear to the church. Thus 
members of the church may be entered on white cards, 
regular attendants who are not members on buff cards, and 
1 ‘ prospects ’ ’ on blue cards. These mailing and calling lists 
must, of course, be constantly revised and kept up to date. 
The burden of this work will almost inevitably fall upon 
the minister of a small church, though sometimes a reliable 
volunteer may relieve him of this task. Where there is an 
assistant minister, a parish assistant, or an office secretary 
the work can be properly assigned to such person. The 
record of parish calls made should be entered on the backs 
of the cards in the calling list. 

It may seem that undue emphasis has been laid upon 
the number and importance of these various forms of 
record, but a somewhat wide and varied experience has 
led the writer to believe that many ministers are grossly 
negligent, and many church officers both ignorant and care¬ 
less in this matter. Botn the minister and the church 
officers should recognize that the proper keeping of the 

3 See “The Administration of an Institutional Church,’’ pp. 
86-97, for such a record of hymns used throughout the year in St. 
George’s Church, New York. 


THE PARISH RECORDS 


61 


parish records is a duty of primary importance, vitally 
connected with the efficient management of the church. 
Slackness or slovenliness here is the clearest evidence of 
a negligent and half-hearted ministry, yet it is all too 
common. 

The minister’s personal records. 

In addition to the records which are the property of the 
parish, and which the minister is not at liberty to take 
away, even temporarily, the minister will do well to keep 
his own private record of his professional service. This 
private record should contain a complete list of his ser¬ 
mons, and a record of the special services which he per¬ 
forms—baptisms, confirmations, marriages, funerals—and 
of his participation in such services as ordinations and 
installations. One large, well-bound blank book of good 
paper will be sufficient. He may enter at one end a list of 
all his sermons, giving each a number and entering against 
that number the text and subject, and the place, date and 
occasion on which it was preached. At the other end of 
the book his entries should run chronologically. Against 
the first date he will set the number of the sermon used 
and the place where it was preached, together with any 
other items that he may wish to record, and his succeeding 
engagements in due order, including all the special services 
which he performs. The book will thus contain at one end 
a record of his professional service and at the other a record 
of his sermons. It will prove of great interest to him per¬ 
sonally as he goes on in life, and, if, after his death, the 
book is incorporated in the archives of the church which he 
has served, it may have a real historic value. It is aston¬ 
ishing, for example, how much information can be derived 
from the preaching records of the Puritan ministers in 
New England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
Furthermore, if the minister has been negligent in keeping 
up the parish registers, his neglect can sometimes be made 
good by copying the items from his private record. 

In addition to this preaching record the wise minister 
will also file carefully the manuscript or notes of each ser¬ 
mon after he has preached it, unless, indeed, when he 


62 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


looks at it on Monday morning he is so disgusted with its 
inadequacy that his self-respect requires him to destroy it 
immediately! If he files it, however, he should note upon 
it the date and place of preaching, with any other memo¬ 
randa which he may think desirable, and include references 
to the Scripture and the hymns used in connection with it, 
and perhaps an outline of his prayer, if it was framed espe¬ 
cially to fit the discourse. The time may come when he will 
wish to use that sermon, or parts of it, again, and these 
memoranda, which take but a few moments to put down, 
are likely later on to save him much time. A convenient 
way to preserve sermons is to use brown manila envelopes, 
upon which the minister can write his name and address, 
the subject and text of the sermon and the dates and places 
of its delivery. A vertical correspondence filing cabinet 
offers the best way for filing sermons and sermon materials. 

In addition to this private record of his professional 
services, which every minister should keep scrupulously, 
many ministers like also to keep a private file of docu¬ 
ments, programs of occasions in which they take part, and 
newspaper clippings referring to themselves or their 
churches. A scrapbook into which such items are pasted 
in chronological order is a convenient method of keeping 
such items, or they may be filed in the filing cabinet. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 

The grounds and buildings committee. 

The church grounds and buildings, including the house 
of worship, the parish house, and the parsonage, should be 
under the supervision of a committee of three or more per¬ 
sons, including at least one member of the governing board, 
and one or more women. In the case of a church with a 
considerable establishment a large committee may appro¬ 
priately be divided into subcommittees having charge 
respectively of the church, the parish house, and the par¬ 
sonage. The committee should have jurisdiction over the 
sexton and other persons who may be employed to look 
after the grounds and buildings. It should see that the 
buildings are properly heated and lighted, and are kept 
in good order; that the hymn books, service books and 
other equipment are adequate in number and serviceable 
in condition, and should carry out all necessary minor re¬ 
pairs, under authority from the trustees or governing 
body. 

It is important that the grounds and buildings should 
present an attractive external appearance. A church is 
a semi-public institution, and the community has a right 
to expect that the property shall not be left in a shabby 
or untidy condition. Furthermore, a slovenly appearance 
always conveys the impression that a church is running 
down, and hence is very detrimental to its welfare. 
Therefore external repairs, such as painting, replacing 
broken windows, or renewing dilapidated woodwork, should 
be promptly made. The grass should be trimmed fre¬ 
quently, and vines and shrubbery planted to make an 
attractive appearance. In localities where there is much 

63 


64 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


snow in winter care should be taken that the sidewalks 
are promptly cleaned, or sanded in icy weather. Many 
churches are ^notoriously lacking in public spirit in this 
matter. 

The committee should also make certain that the sexton 
does his duty in the matter of keeping the interior of the 
church and parish house clean and neat. He should collect 
and destroy each week any printed papers, such as church 
calendars, which may have been distributed in the pews, 
but which are now out of date. The Sunday-School rooms 
ought to be cleared immediately after using, the chairs 
rearranged and blackboards cleaned. The sexton should 
also be instructed as to airing the church and parish house 
both before and after their use by any considerable num¬ 
ber of people. It is important that the church should be 
thoroughly aired just before the congregation assembles 
for worship, even in very cold weather. It is better for 
the church to be a little too cold at the opening of worship 
rather than too hot, since it will soon warm up after the 
people gather. Close, warm air in a church building is 
even more conducive to slumber on the part of the con¬ 
gregation than a long and prosy sermon. 

The minister has no direct responsibility for any of 
these matters. They should be cared for by the committee 
without action on his part. It is not desirable that he 
should be a member of the grounds and buildings com¬ 
mittee, since he can easily call the attention of the com¬ 
mittee to matters needing attention which come to his 
notice, but he is entitled to give instructions to the sexton 
as to the fulfillment of his duties. The one exception to his 
freedom from this responsibility is that he should himself 
supervise the care of the pulpit, reading desk, communion 
table and other equipment in the chancel of the church. 
He should see that old notices, memoranda, dilapidated 
service books and other trash are not allowed to accumulate 
in the recesses of the pulpit, that tumblers half filled with 
stale water do not stand there from week end to week end, 
and that the books, utensils and furniture which he uses 
in the conduct of worship are kept in good order. The 
chancel of the church ought above all places to be clean 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 65 

and neat, and a half-concealed disorder here is the clearest 
proof of a slovenly minister. 1 

When new church buildings are planned. 

Under ordinary circumstances the minister simply 
accepts the building and equipment of which he finds the 
parish already in possession when he is installed as min¬ 
ister, though he may find it desirable to ask for some minor 
alterations or adjustments of the chancel furniture to suit 
his convenience. The time may come, however, when the 
parish will wish to make extensive alterations or to erect 
new buildings. When such a move is in contemplation it 
is important that the minister should remember that the 
matter is one which affects the whole parish, and for which 
he does not have any direct responsibility. The church 
is not his property, but that of the parish, which has to 
pay the bills for construction and maintenance and which 
will use it after he has gone to another parish or to his 
grave. He should, therefore, scrupulously refrain from 
any insistence that the parish shall build thus and so to 
please his taste. 

When building operations are in prospect a representa¬ 
tive committee should be appointed at a legally held 
parish meeting. The committee should be so strong and so 
truly representative of the whole congregation that it can 

'“Of all the material abominations of Christendom none is more 
outrageous than a dirty altar and a dirty sanctuary, except it be a 
dirty minister.” DeWitt. “Decently and in Order,” p. 33. 

So also George Herbert, in “The Country Parson,” Chap. XIII: 
“The Country Parson hath a special care of his church, that all 
things there be decent, and befitting His name by which it is called. 
Therefore, first he takes order, that all things be in good repair; 
as walls plastered, windows glazed, floor paved, seats whole, firm, and 
uniform, especially that the pulpit, and desk, and communion table, 
and font be as they ought, for those great duties that are performed 
in them. Secondly, that the church be swept, and kept clean with¬ 
out dust, or cobwebs, and at great festivals strewed, and stuck with 
boughs, and perfumed with incense. Thirdly, that there be fit and 
proper texts of Scripture everywhere painted, and that all the paint¬ 
ing be grave, and reverend, not with light colours or foolish antics. 
Fourthly, that all the books appointed by authority be there, and 
those not torn, or fouled, but whole and clean, and well bound.” 


66 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


successfully meet the danger of being dominated by any 
single individual. Not infrequently some aggressive and 
domineering member of a building committee—often a 
man of large means, accustomed to having his own way— 
will try to force through the acceptance of plans which the 
parish does not really like, perhaps by threatening to with¬ 
hold his contribution if the new church is not built to suit 
his taste. Many a parish has been saddled with an inferior 
or unsuitable, though costly church building, by some 
individual of this type, for the taste of such a man is 
almost certain to be untrained and his judgment bad, 
except as to the cost of materials and labor. 

The building committee should first estimate as closely 
as possible the amount of money which they will have to 
spend. They should then secure tentative plans and esti¬ 
mates falling within the available amount and re-submit 
them to the parish before any contracts are let. The min¬ 
ister should not be a member of the building committee. 
Not infrequently wide differences of opinion will develop 
within the committee or the parish as to the architect to be 
employed or the style of architecture to be adopted. If 
the minister is a member of the committee he will find it 
difficult to avoid taking sides, although he ought not to do 
so, since he is minister of the whole parish. If he is not a 
member of the committee he can more easily maintain an 
appropriate attitude of neutrality. 

It is, however, a mistake for the building committee not 
to consult the minister frequently about its plans, or per¬ 
haps ask him to sit with it unofficially. The primary pur¬ 
pose of the church is that it should serve as a house of 
worship. The minister is—or is supposed to be—an 
expert in the conduct of worship. He knows better than 
any one else what are the most convenient and practicable 
arrangements in such matters as the location and construc¬ 
tion of pulpit and reading desk and the best means of 
access to the chancel from the minister’s study or from the 
body of the church. He must preach in the church, and is 
vitally concerned that it should have good acoustic prop¬ 
erties. For the parish to build a new church without con¬ 
sulting the minister on these points is as unintelligent as 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


67 


it would be for the board of trustees of a library to put up 
a new building without consulting the librarian as to the 
practical arrangements necessary for the administration 
thereof. This is the more important because many archi¬ 
tects have had small training or experience in planning 
churches and often are surprisingly ignorant as to what is 
required. An architect will sometimes plan a church with 
no way for the minister to reach the pulpit save by walk¬ 
ing up the broad aisle; or will try to put the organ into 
a space not more than half large enough to hold it; or will 
plan a chancel so dark that the minister cannot use either 
reading desk or pulpit without artificial light, and then 
try to remedy the defect by putting a skylight into the roof 
above the chancel, where it is a grotesque eyesore. 

Selecting the church architect. 

Church building is a highly specialized form of archi¬ 
tecture, for which the architect needs both thorough train¬ 
ing and a sympathetic appreciation of the function of the 
church. He must understand the particular type of wor¬ 
ship which the church building is intended to shelter. 
The architects of the marvelous cathedrals and the lovely 
parish churches of the Middle Ages were men in religious 
orders, monks or priests who had dedicated their talents 
to the service of the church, who were thoroughly conver¬ 
sant with its dogmas and symbolism, and deeply imbued 
with its spirit. One cannot expect to get a satisfactory 
modern church building from a young and inexperienced 
architect who never steps inside a church from one year’s 
end to another, and who has only the haziest notion as to 
what the service is about. 

The building committee ought, therefore, to be particu¬ 
larly careful in selecting an architect. They should not 
employ any one simply because he happens to belong to a 
family prominently connected with the church, or because 
it is good politics to favor this or that firm. Neither should 
they give the job to a local contractor not competent to do 
more than put up a building from some plan bought from 
a commercial house. A good professional architect is well 
w r orth the price of his fees. Inasmuch, however, as every 


68 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


church should be carefully adapted to the type of worship 
which it is intended to house it is often well to employ an 
architect who is either a member of the denomination to 
which the church belongs, or who has at least built other 
successful churches of the same type. The primary duty of 
the committee is to pick out the man who is most likely to 
produce a satisfactory building within the prescribed cost. 
That does not necessarily mean choosing an architect with 
the most resounding reputation. A firm of young, well- 
trained men, who have their reputation still to make, may 
be just as competent to do a good job. 

It is desirable that the architect be chosen and consulted 
about plans at the earliest possible stage in the proceed¬ 
ings. Often he can give useful advice about the choice of 
a site, since he can better visualize the church which is to 
be than most other people are able to. The building com¬ 
mittee should be reasonable in their demands upon him, 
and not expect him to work the miracle of producing a 
$100,000 church when they give him only $50,000 to work 
with. A conscientious architect who is entirely frank with 
his clients about costs is much more satisfactory in the end 
than one who leads them on by glowing pictures to a heavy 
over-expenditure. The committee should, therefore, begin 
by stating explicitly the amount which is available, and 
the kind of building which the church needs, and should 
thereafter be guided largely by his advice as to the best 
way of securing the desired results. The architect’s advice 
should also be sought as to the contractor to be employed. 
He is probably well acquainted with the several bidders for 
the contract, and knows which are the most honest and 
reliable. It is hardly fair to hold an architect responsible 
for results if the committee insists upon giving the contract 
to builders whom the architect cannot trust to do a good 
job. Contracts, therefore, should never be assigned as a 
matter of favor, nor necessarily given to the lowest bidder, 
at least if the bid is so low that it is clear that the builder 
must scamp the job to make any profit. 

It is seldom wise to invite a number of architects to enter 
a competition, except for a very large and important 
undertaking. Such a competition is expensive, since it 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


69 


means the study and preparation of several sets of plans 
by a number of men, and the best architects generally will 
not enter one except when a great professional opportunity 
is at stake. Competitions are governed by a code estab¬ 
lished by the American Institute of Architects, to which 
application should be made for information. 2 Under 
ordinary circumstances it is better policy for the parish to 
invite the best architect whom it can find to submit for 
discussion a single, tentative set of drawings, out of 
which a thoroughly satisfactory plan may eventually be 
evolved. 

The house of worship. 

No church can be regarded as an architectural success 
unless both its exterior and its interior unmistakably pro¬ 
claim it to be a house of worship. Whatever style of 
architecture be adopted the function and purpose of the 
building ought to be clearly indicated. In some denomina¬ 
tions there was a marked tendency in the last quarter of 
the nineteenth century to secularize church buildings, with 
the mistaken idea that the unchurched could more easily 
be induced to enter a building which looked as though it 
might be a fire-engine house, or a badly designed public 
library, or a town hall erected by the local contractor. The 
result of that tendency has been to inflict upon parishes 
hideous buildings very badly adapted to their intended 
use. Their uninviting exteriors are pretentious shams, 
which deceive nobody; their interiors, with folding theater 
seats on a floor which slopes to a wide platform, savor of 
vaudeville, or, at best, of a lecture hall or concert room, 
and utterly lack the power to suggest or stimulate the 
spirit of worship. The theory which produced this type of 
building—that religion could be made attractive by the 
elimination of all its traditional settings—was a thoroughly 
mistaken one. 

A church is primarily and essentially a building in 
which a congregation assembles to worship God. That 
worship can best be promoted by an edifice which, by its 

a Address, The Secretary: American Institute of Architects, The 
Octagon, Washington, D. C. 


70 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


silent dignity, communicates to all who enter it the spirit 
which it has been erected to house, and which offers the 
fewest suggestions of other and alien purposes. Beauty 
should, of course, be sought for, but it will most surely 
be found in the careful adaptation of the building to the 
purpose for which it is intended, in good proportions, and 
in the sincerity with which the building materials are 
used. These are the essentials of beauty in every house of 
worship, whether it be an Egyptian temple, the Parthenon 
at Athens, a Gothic cathedral or a Quaker meeting-house. 
There should be no pretense that the materials used are 
something other than what is actually the case. There 
should be no painting of plaster to imitate marble, no 
staining of pine to imitate mahogany, no use of cement 
blocks to imitate cut stone. Any such pretense is an 
abomination unto the Lord. 

Elaborate ornamentation should be avoided, because it is 
costly, because simplicity of line and form means that 
there will be less to distract the attention of the wor¬ 
shiper, and because of the inadequacy of modern crafts¬ 
manship, which makes it difficult or impossible nowadays to 
secure good work, as, for instance, in wood or stone carv¬ 
ing. Therefore the design should not show greater elabo¬ 
ration than admits of good execution. The architecture 
should be structurally as simple as it can be made, avoid¬ 
ing meaningless gables, and those turrets and “ ginger¬ 
bread’ ’ moldings which were the product of that architec¬ 
tural nightmare known as ‘ 1 the Queen Anne cottage style. ’ 1 
There should be no false buttresses placed where there is no 
thrust to be met, no false fronts on the church—“brick 
with mock-marble pious front” 3 —and no hidden cheap¬ 
ness at the rear of the building out of sight of the passer’s 
eye, but every part of the church should be built with 
equal care and sincerity. The one permissible exception to 
this rule is when only a part of the church has been com¬ 
pleted, and the point at which construction is arrested is 
marked by what is obviously a temporary partition wall. 
Such a wall needs no apology, since it explains itself. 


#, J. R. Lowell, “The Cathedral.»’ 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


71 


Styles of architecture. 

It should be remembered that though there are many 
beautiful styles of church architecture it is almost in¬ 
evitable that some particular style will be peculiarly appro¬ 
priate to the needs of the parish which is intending to 
build. It is essential to success that the building commit¬ 
tee should choose a style which is simple and fitting, instead 
of demanding one which is out of place or ornate or 
bizarre. Byzantine churches or Arabic mosques are inter¬ 
esting and beautiful in Constantinople or Cairo, but they 
are unsuited to Christian America. The committee, there¬ 
fore, should choose the style which is adapted to the form 
of worship to be used, which conforms to local traditions 
and to the character of the surroundings, and which best 
lends itself to the available building materials. In build¬ 
ing a Roman Catholic church the primary consideration 
is the celebration of the Mass, and the building must be 
planned to that end. The present tendency of Roman 
Catholic architects is to use Italianesque styles as charac¬ 
teristic of the traditions of that church. In the Protestant 
Episcopal church the present tendency is to follow English 
Gothic models, since the church building is planned for a 
liturgical service, generally with a large choir and proces¬ 
sional and recessional entrance and exit, for which the 
Gothic style is particularly adapted. A Quaker meeting¬ 
house, in which there is much silent worship as well as 
individual speaking by worshipers scattered through dif¬ 
ferent parts of the house, calls for a wholly different 
arrangement. And a church where a congregational, non- 
liturgical type of worship is used must be adapted pri¬ 
marily to a service in which preaching has a prominent 
place. It should be remembered, however, that architec¬ 
ture is a living, growing art. Therefore a good architect 
should not be held to a doctrinaire adherence to established 
forms, but should be given a free hand in the adaptation 
of the chosen style to the particular needs of the local 
situation. 


72 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The Gothic style. 

In many parts of this country the choice of styles prac¬ 
tically lies between Gothic and the so-called Colonial, or 
Georgian. Both of these styles are an inheritance from the 
past, the Gothic being a modern revival of the great archi¬ 
tecture developed in northern Europe during the Middle 
Ages, the Georgian being a descendant of the English forms 
of Renaissance architecture as developed during the seven¬ 
teenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. At 
the present time there is a strong tendency toward the 
Gothic style in other denominations besides the Protestant 
Episcopal. This enthusiasm for the Gothic style is part of 
the general awakening of interest in the Middle Ages, which 
has been 40 notable in the last one hundred years, in 
marked contrast to the attitude of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries when the very word “Gothic” was a 
synonym for all that was barbarous and uncouth. Modern 
Gothic, when well done, is a beautiful style, churchly in 
character, giving an atmosphere of devotion to the build¬ 
ing. In the hand of an ill-trained architect, however, it is 
a thing of horror, and it is always a very expensive style 
in which to build well. A Gothic church ought to be built 
of stone, with carefully cut trimmings and stone mullions 
in the windows, which should be of stained glass made *by 
true artists and not by commercial dealers in church fur¬ 
nishings. A Gothic church built of stone conveys an im¬ 
pression of permanency and stability, but it is more dif¬ 
ficult to warm and to speak in—unless the church be a 
small one—because of the high open or vaulted roof. 

It should be remembered that the great Gothic churches 
were not intended primarily for a preaching service, but 
for a choral celebration of the eucharist in the choir, while 
the congregation stood or knelt in the nave. Preach¬ 
ing occurred only occasionally and the pulpit was gen¬ 
erally erected against a pillar in the nave, so that the 
preacher might be understood by his hearers. It is dif¬ 
ficult to adapt the Gothic style to a service in which 
preaching plays as important a part as is the case in most 
Protestant churches, unless the building be a small one, 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


73 


seating not more than five or six hundred people. Further¬ 
more, there are implicit in Gothic architecture certain 
theological concepts which most Protestant churches at 
least do not emphasize, even if they have not rejected 
them altogether. A Gothic church should be rather long, 
narrow and high, with a deep chancel, raised three or five 
steps above the level of the floor of the church and flanked 
by pulpit and reading desk. The singers are placed within 
the choir, in stalls facing across the church—not facing 
the congregation. The altar at the end of the choir is the 
focus of attention for the worshipers. Churches which do 
not wish to emphasize the eucharistic form of worship will 
do well to pause before building in the Gothic style, since, 
if they choose that style, they are confronted by the 
dilemma of either building a church which is not a genuine 
expression of their ideas of worship, or of mutilating a 
beautiful style to fit their needs. In any case a building 
committee should avoid using a pseudo-Gothic—a cheap 
wooden imitation of Gothic, which merely apes the real 
thing, and is in reality a barefaced falsehood. 

The Georgian style. 

The Georgian style is anathema to those persons who 
have turned their eyes back to the thirteenth century as 
the crowning period of Christian civilization, for whom 
Gothic is the only type of architecture in which the spirit 
of Christian worship can be expressed. For persons of a 
more catholic taste, however, the Georgian style offers cer¬ 
tain great advantages. It is more closely associated with 
the traditions of our eastern states, from New England to 
Georgia, since it was practically the only style of church 
architecture used in this country by any denomination down 
to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Many beauti¬ 
ful specimens of it survive, not only Puritan meeting¬ 
houses of the colonial days and of the opening decades of 
the nineteenth century, but also noble parish churches 
built for the use of Episcopalian congregations, two best 
known examples of which are, perhaps, King’s Chapel in 
Boston and St. Michael’s in Charleston, S. C. The Geor¬ 
gian style is for Protestant Christianity in this country a 


74 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


more direct inheritance than Gothic, which comes to us as 
a deliberate revival imported into this country by enthu¬ 
siasts for the Middle Ages. A Georgian church is much 
less expensive to build well than a Gothic church, and easier 
to heat and light. Owing to its greater width, in com¬ 
parison with its length, it will seat a *much larger con¬ 
gregation in proportion to its size and cost, and it is well 
adapted to a non-liturgical form of worship, and particu¬ 
larly for preaching, generally having much better acous¬ 
tic properties. It may be built in wood as well as in brick 
or in stone, the style being equally adapted to all three 
materials, and, when done in good taste, gives a struc¬ 
ture which is both dignified and worshipful. It does not 
require stained glass windows, as the Gothic church does, 
but should always have windows of clear or very slightly 
tinted glass. Stained glass windows are not in harmony 
with the Georgian style. 

Other architectural styles. 

There is a certain advantage in the adoption by a given 
denomination of a uniform style of architecture, as the 
Roman Catholics have adopted Italianesque and the 
Episcopalians English Gothic. In other churches this 
advantage is perhaps overbalanced by the desirability of 
variety to accord with the differing traditions and climatic 
conditions in various parts of the country. The Georgian 
style is peculiarly appropriate in New England and the 
other seaboard states as far south as Georgia, and in places 
in the west where the New England traditions are strong, 
but neither Georgian nor Gothic is particularly appropriate 
in Florida or Louisiana or the Southwest or California. 
In those parts of the country a church must be so built 
as to shut out the heat and glare of the sun. Mission archi¬ 
tecture is appropriate in California and the Southwest, the 
church building being of stone, brick or concrete with a 
tiled roof, but such a structure looks entirely out of place 
on the North Atlantic seaboard. It is true that at the 
present time the Mission style has been cheapened by being 
grotesquely abused, but, when carefully worked out, there 
is no reason why it should not make an appropriate 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 75 

and beautiful style of architecture for Protestant wor¬ 
ship. 

Where good building stone is scarce, or has to be 
brought a long distance, it is better to build of brick, wood 
or concrete. Whenever brick is used great care should be 
taken in its selection to choose a well-baked brick with a 
warm tone, avoiding the cheaper bricks which lack char¬ 
acter. Anything like striking designs made by the use 
of variegated bricks, or stripes produced by alternate 
layers of brick or stone, should be shunned like the plague. 

The church interior. 

The church interior should, of course, fulfill the promise 
of the exterior. It must be arranged for the most con¬ 
venient and adequate conduct of the type of worship to be 
observed therein. It should be neither startling nor pretty, 
but at least simple and dignified, if it cannot attain to 
nobility and beauty. It should contain nothing, either in 
furnishings or decorations, which suggest secular associa¬ 
tions or which distract the attention of the worshiper, and 
it should be used only for services of worship, or for 
occasions closely associated therewith, such as lectures or 
public meetings in the interest of public morality or edu¬ 
cation. It should never be used for entertainments, debates 
on trivial subjects, moving pictures, or in any other way 
which tends to break down the association of the church 
building with the idea of worship. People do not easily 
enter into the spirit of worship in a building which they 
have lately visited to witness some entertainment. The 
parish house should be available for such activities—the 
house of worship should be reserved for its primary pur¬ 
pose. 4 

* The following description of a recently erected church, taken 
from a newspaper, is a typical example of an all too prevalent but 
wholly mistaken idea of what a church interior should be like. 11 The 
church is one of the finest church structures in the city. Comfortable 
individual seats have been provided with the expectation that the 
building will serve the community seven days in the week. The 
pastor’s platform deviates from the usual type of pulpit. It is a 
stage, furnished with a grand piano and has a reading stand in 
place of a pulpit. The stage may be used for the presentation of 


76 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


Interior walls. 

In a Gothic church the walls may appropriately be built 
of cut stone if money is available, or they may be plastered. 
In a Georgian church the interior is plastered and painted. 
In any case the interior painting should be of one plain, 
solid color, of some neutral tint. There should be no 
frescoing or stenciling of elaborate designs in variegated 
colors, and no use of painted symbols drawn from pagan 
sources, nor of ancient Christian symbols which have a 
theological significance at variance with the theology of the 
church to be decorated. Plain wall surfaces will least dis¬ 
tract the attention of the worshipers from the conduct of 
the service. If there be in the church some large bare 
surface which calls for something to fill it, a simply 
painted text, without meaningless arabesques, is the best 
decoration. 5 

The windows. 

Many church interiors are so dark as to require artificial 
light, even on a bright day, because of inadequate window 
areas. Sometimes the architect has provided a sufficient 
area of clear glass to light the building but has made no 
allowance for the marked diminution of light which will 
result from filling the windows with stained glass; some¬ 
times the building has had its light shut out by the erec¬ 
tion of high buildings on the adjacent lots; sometimes the 
windows have been placed too low to light the middle of 
the church. Reasonable foresight will generally prevent 
the architectural defect of a church so dark that the con¬ 
gregation cannot see to read at midday without artificial 
light. In planning a Gothic church it should be assumed 
that the windows will eventually be filled with stained 
glass and the window areas should be calculated accord¬ 
ingly. In a Georgian church it should be assumed that 
the windows will be filled with clear glass if the outlook 

plays, lyceum entertainments, and motion pictures. M Apparently 
the only thing that has been overlooked here is the provision that 
the seats could be removed so that the floor of the church could also 
be used for dances and card parties! 

6 See quotation from George Herbert in footnote on p. 65. 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


77 


from the church is pleasant, or with a lightly tinted glass 
if the outlook is upon brick walls. The church walls should 
be built of sufficient height to permit the light from the 
windows to enter over the heads of the worshipers. Except 
in a small church it is not necessary that the bottom of the 
windows should be much below the. level of a man’s head, 
this arrangement leaving a small space below the windows 
for the placing of mural tablets. In a very small church, 
where the walls are necessarily low, there should be a 
large window at the rear of the church, behind the congre¬ 
gation, from which light will fall upon their books. It 
should never be necessary to resort to skylights, or gable 
windows in the roof, which are entirely out of place in 
church architecture, save in the unusual instance of a 
church built in a solid city block and lighted wholly from 
above by a roof constructed chiefly of glass. 

The organ. 

The organ is a piece of church furnishing which has a 
definite architectural value. The pipes should either be 
left their natural silvery color, or gilded,—never elabo¬ 
rately painted with meaningless designs. The best place 
for the organ, acoustically, is at one end or the other of the 
church. In a Gothic church the natural location is in the 
choir, behind or above the choir stalls. In a Georgian 
church the best place is in a choir gallery at the opposite end 
of the church from the pulpit. The location of the organ 
behind or beside the pulpit, as is so common in churches 
built during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, is 
generally undesirable. The organ is not the object upon 
which the attention of the congregation should be con¬ 
centrated. That object should be the altar surmounted by 
a cross in churches of the sacramental type of worship, or 
the pulpit in churches which emphasize the prophetic form 
of religion. The organ makes an unsuitable background 
for the minister, and the singers, if placed behind him, 
must face the congregation, so that the unwelcome sug¬ 
gestion of a concert room is inevitably emphasized and 
every movement of the choir is distractingly visible to the 
worshipers. Such a location for the organ and choir is, 


78 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


therefore, to be avoided. A possible exception is that 
in a very small church, without a choir, a little organ 
may properly be placed on the floor of the church 
in full sight of the congregation that the organist may 
better lead the congregational singing. Another possible 
location, in churches of moderate size* is in a transept in 
which a choir gallery is carried out to the wall of the nave. 
This is less advantageous acoustically than a location at 
the end of the church, but is not open to the objections of a 
choir directly behind the minister. 

The pulpit and reading-desk. 

In a Gothic church the pulpit and reading-desk, or lec- 
tern, are located on opposite sides of the entrance to the 
choir. In a Georgian church they may be so located, but 
more commonly the pulpit is centrally located and serves 
as a reading-desk also. In many Protestant churches the 
pulpit is hardly more than a bookstand set on a platform, 
about which the preacher walks to and fro as he speaks. 
There is a type of pulpit orator to whom this arrangement 
is acceptable. Henry Ward Beecher was an outstanding 
example. He wanted a platform about which he could 
roam, rather than what he called “one of those old- 
fashioned swallow’s nests on the wall.” He felt that thus 
he could get closer to his people. His illustrious example 
to the contrary, a pulpit is better suited to the conduct of 
worship than a platform, with its suggestions of the lecture 
room, or of political eloquence, for the sermon ought not to 
be an oration, a lecture or an essay, but a sermon. 

In every case both the pulpit and reading-desk should be 
specially designed and built for the church, rather than 
bought ready-made from some church furnishing company, 
except where the church cannot afford to put specially 
designed furniture in at once, in which case the commercial 
articles may be used as a temporary expedient, but the 
ready-made articles are generally bad in design and out 
of keeping with a well-planned church. The floor of the 
pulpit should be at least three feet above the floor of a 
small church, and more in a large church, but the old- 
fashioned high pulpit is desirable only in a church with 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


79 


galleries, in which case the height should be such that at 
least the head of a small man in the pulpit will be clearly 
visible to all persons sitting in the galleries. The sides 
of the pulpit should be built to a height of about three feet 
from the floor thereof, topped by a ledge not less than 
eight inches broad. The board upon which the preacher 
lays his manuscript or notes should not be less than twelve 
by fifteen inches, and should be so arranged as to be easily 
raised and lowered, and tilted. There should always be 
provision in the pulpit for artificial lighting, and in many 
churches an acousticon is attached for the benefit of deaf 
people in the congregation. It is not ornamental if left 
exposed to view, but it can easily be screened from the con¬ 
gregation by a hanging piece of brocade of suitable color. 
In a Gothic or Italianesque church the pulpit is sometimes 
built of stone or marble, otherwise it is of oak. In the 
Georgian churches of the colonial period it was often built 
of mahogany, but nowadays is commonly of a less expen¬ 
sive wood, painted white, with a mahogany or cherry top 
and sermon board. The reading-desk, if there be one, 
should be built to match. The brass lecterns so common 
in the last century are inartistic and undesirable. Both 
reading-desk and pulpit should have a small concealed 
shelf or book rack to hold hymnals and service books, 
making unnecessary the small tables found behind the 
pulpits in some Protestant churches. 

The communion table. 

In Roman Catholic churches the altar is always, and in 
Episcopal churches is commonly of stone built into the 
church. In other churches a movable communion table is 
commonly used. It should be substantial in construction, 
of oak or mahogany to match the pulpit and reading-desk, 
and designed for the church, its size varying somewhat in 
proportion to its setting. 

The seats for the clergy. 

In Gothic churches the ministers are seated with the 
choir in stalls assigned to them. In a Georgian church, 
or one of some other architectural style, one or more 


80 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


movable chairs are provided, just behind the pulpit, or 
in the chancel, if there be one. In a small church it is 
well to provide three, in a large church five such chairs, 
for use upon occasions when more than one minister takes 
part in the service. The chairs should be carefully de¬ 
signed or selected to match the rest of the chancel furni¬ 
ture. Sometimes a bench, long enough to seat at least 
three persons, is provided instead. 

The pews. 

The old-fashioned, square box pews, characteristic of 
the older colonial churches and still in use in a few places, 
are picturesque, but wasteful of space, and give an appear¬ 
ance of being inhospitable to strangers. A modern church 
will naturally use bench pews of a character appropriate to 
the rest of the church interior. If of the natural color of 
the wood, or stained, they, like the rest of the church furni¬ 
ture, should have a dull waxed finish, instead of being 
brightly varnished so that they will reflect gleams of light 
into the eyes of the congregation. Varnish is also liable on 
a warm day to stick to the clothes of people sitting in the 
pews. Curving rows of seats on a floor sloping to the pul¬ 
pit are to be avoided as giving the suggestion of a theater. 
That is also a valid objection to individual folding seats, 
except as a temporary expedient until the church can put 
in properly designed pews. 

In a small church the pews are best arranged in two 
blocks, with a wide main aisle in the middle of the church 
and a side aisle along either wall. In a large, wide church 
three blocks of pews may be better, with two broad aisles. 
A central aisle, however, is preferable for weddings and 
funerals. It should be wide enough to permit a coffin 
to be carried up without crowding the bearers, that is, not 
less than five feet. There should also be room enough at 
the foot of the chancel steps, or before the pulpit in a 
church in which the latter is centrally located, to deposit 
the coffin and to turn it, or for a wedding party to stand 
for a marriage service. If the church has more seats 
than are needed for ordinary occasions, so that the con¬ 
gregation seems thin and scattered, the removal of a few 


THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 


81 


pews at the back of the church will help to bring the con¬ 
gregation forward. 

The control of gifts and memorials. 

Very often some of the furnishings may be offered as 
gifts, or, in a church already equipped, members may 
from time to time wish to give memorials, perhaps in the 
form of tablets, or stained glass windows. All such gifts 
should be especially designed for the place they are to 
occupy, and the design should be approved by the govern¬ 
ing board, or by a competent committee, before it is 
actually executed. Otherwise there is always danger that 
a well-meaning person with poor taste may inflict upon a 
parish some unsuitable object which is a blemish on the 
interior of the house of worship. The society has a right 
to safeguard itself against this risk, and if it be clearly 
understood in advance that the approval of a competent 
committee is required, no difficulties are likely to arise. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE PARISH HOUSE 

The value of a parish house. 

Previous to the nineteenth century parish houses were 
very seldom, if ever, found, as part of the equipment of 
Protestant churches in England or the United States. The 
meeting-house of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
had only a small retiring room for the minister. With the 
development of Sunday-Schools from their beginning early 
in the nineteenth century, and the great enlargement of 
parish activities in the last fifty years, an adequate parish 
house has become an essential for carrying on the work of 
a modern church. A church is no longer a preaching post, 
open one day a week, but a center for various social, edu¬ 
cational and philanthropic interests which must be given 
house-room. Every church, therefore, should study care¬ 
fully its opportunities for such work in the community, and 
should seek to equip itself adequately to meet these needs. 

The location of the parish house. 

The ideal arrangement is an architectural group, in¬ 
cluding church, parish house and parsonage as separate 
units in an organic whole. Where financial resources per¬ 
mit the execution of such a plan the house of worship 
should be the dominating feature of the group, both in its 
location and its architectural quality. The parish house 
should be definitely subordinated to the church, being 
located behind or on one side. 

Such an ideal plan, however, is often impossible because 
of either the expense involved or lack of space. The latter 
consideration applies especially to old churches about which 
other structures are closely built, where there is no oppor- 

82 


THE PARISH HOUSE 


83 


tunity to acquire sufficient land immediately adjoining the 
house of worship for the erection of a parish house. In 
such cases the next best thing to do is to acquire a parish 
house by purchase or erection on some other site as near 
the church as is practicable. If the church is a down¬ 
town one, at some distance from the residence district 
where most of the parishioners live, it is better to locate the 
parish house where it will be most accessible to the homes 
of the people. Such a geographical separation of the 
parish house from the house of worship is, however, unde¬ 
sirable where it can be avoided, as it weakens the associa¬ 
tions which bind the people, especially the children, to 
the house of worship. 

Another possible location for the parish house is in the 
basement beneath the house of worship. This arrangement 
is to be recommended only on grounds of economy. It does 
mean the maximum use of the smallest practicable area 
of land, with a minimum building cost for the space pro¬ 
vided. On the other hand it is much better that the house 
of worship should be an architectural unit by itself, devoted 
wholly to its primary purpose, and that the roof which 
covers the church should not shelter the other miscellaneous 
activities of the parish. Parish rooms in the basement 
usually involve raising the floor of the church to a height 
eight to fifteen feet above the ground level in order to give 
sufficient head-room in the basement. A church thus raised 
on stilts, with a basement or ground floor which is obviously 
used for miscellaneous purposes, can never present as beau¬ 
tiful or dignified an exterior as a church which is rooted 
close to the ground. Furthermore a considerable flight of 
steps from the sidewalk to the church door is a discourage¬ 
ment to the old and the infirm, an inconvenience at the 
time of weddings and funerals, and an obstacle to ready 
entrance which even the young and vigorous must make a 
conscious effort to overcome. Any shopkeeper knows the 
advantage of having a shop which customers can enter 
with but a single step from the street level, for the pur¬ 
chaser will turn in where he can do so with least trouble. 
The same principle applies to a church. The objection to 
locating the parish house beneath the church is weakest 


84 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


where the church is built upon sloping ground. In such 
cases it is often possible to have the main entrance to 
the house of worship where the ground is highest, using 
only two or three steps from the street level to the entrance, 
and to locate the entrance to the parish house at the other 
end of the building, where the ground may fall away enough 
to give sufficient head-room. Some old or small churches 
may find parish rooms in the basement the only practicable 
arrangement, but it is not a desirable one where it can be 
avoided. 

What the parish house should contam. 

In general the parish house, wherever located, should be 
planned to accommodate the educational, social and admin¬ 
istrative functions of the church. There should be a sep¬ 
arate coat room and lavatory for each sex. For social 
purposes there should be an assembly room large enough 
either to seat comfortably the whole Sunday-School, with 
considerable room for other persons who may wish to 
attend on special occasions, or to accommodate parish meet¬ 
ings, church suppers, church fairs and similar gatherings. 
It should be designed with a level floor and movable chairs, 
with a stage at one end large enough for small dramatic 
performances—if the church discipline does not forbid 
such entertainments—and with equipment for a lantern 
and moving pictures. There should also be a small kitchen 
immediately adjoining the assembly room, containing a 
small stove and other equipment for making coffee or pre¬ 
paring simple hot dishes for parish suppers, and sufficient 
shelves for the storage of dishes and similar equipment. 

For its educational work, in addition to the assembly 
room used by the Sunday-School for opening and closing 
services, the parish house should contain a room for each 
class in the Sunday-School. Where such class rooms are 
lacking it is, of course, possible to hold classes in the nooks 
and corners of the assembly room or of the church itself, 
but such shifts are far from desirable. It is much better, 
if possible, to provide a room for each class, sufficiently 
lighted and ventilated. 

In addition to provision for the social and educational 


THE PARISH HOUSE 


85 


life of the church, parish houses should also include suit¬ 
able offices for church administration. Most of our older 
churches have what is by courtesy called “the minister’s 
study, ’ ’ where he may deposit his coat and hat before going 
into the pulpit. These little rooms are often cold, badly 
lighted and unattractive, and sometimes are littered with 
old hymn books, broken furniture and other lumber. Some¬ 
times the choir must share the use of them with the min¬ 
ister. The modern church should be planned on quite a 
different basis. The minister’s study and the church office 
are nowadays recognized as a necessary part of the equip¬ 
ment of a modern church. There should, therefore, be a 
suitable room definitely set aside as the minister’s study, 
and never used for miscellaneous purposes, so located that 
he can quickly step from it into the chancel or pulpit with¬ 
out passing through the assembly room or the body of the 
church, and easily accessible from the street, preferably 
through the church office if there be one. It should be well 
lighted, ventilated and heated, and equipped with a desk, 
chairs, bookcases and filing cases. An open fireplace will 
add much to the comfort and cheer of the room. A sep¬ 
arate lavatory should be connected with the study, and 
a closet with hangers for his coat and his black silk preach¬ 
ing gown, or such robes as he may wear in the conduct of 
the church service. There should be somewhere in the 
parish house a small, built-in safe to hold the church silver, 
record books, etc., and probably the minister’s study is as 
good a place as any for such a safe. In Roman Catholic 
and in Protestant Episcopal churches a much larger equip¬ 
ment is required in the way of receptacles, to hold the ves¬ 
sels used in the celebration of the eucharist, and the va¬ 
rious ecclesiastical garments worn by the priest , 6 but the 
foregoing will suffice for the average Protestant church. 

The church office should be a separate room. It is essen¬ 
tial in any church large enough to provide a parish assist¬ 
ant or a stenographer, or both, for its minister. The church 
office should contain all the equipment for keeping the rec¬ 
ords of the church, the stenographer’s typewriter and the 

6 See De Witt, ‘ 1 Decently and in Order, ’ ’ pp. 58-59, for a brief 
statement about the equipment of a sacristy. 


86 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


parish assistant’s desk, and should be used as the ante¬ 
room for visitors coming to consult with the minister, who 
can thus be protected from unnecessary and inconvenient 
intrusions. 

There should also be a room for the choir, adjacent to 
the organ and with immediate access to the choir stalls, 
the precise location depending upon the plan of the church, 
the type of choir employed, and the form of service used. 
The choir room should be furnished with a desk for the 
organist, cases to contain the music sheets and hymn books, 
and closets or racks for the coats, hats and umbrellas of 
the singers, and their gowns or other vestments, if the 
choir be a vested one. The best arrangement is a rod with 
the necessary number of hangers, with a shelf above for 
hats and a row of boxes beneath for overshoes. In the case 
of a large, mixed choir, separate coat rooms should be 
provided for men and women. 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE PARSONAGE 

A residence for the minister. 

A suitable parsonage is a valuable asset for any parish. 
In the Roman Catholic Church every organized parish is 
required to maintain a dignified, furnished residence, if 
possible adjoining the church, for the parish priest and his 
assistant clergy. Except in mission fields, where as yet it 
has not been possible to purchase or erect a priest’s house, 
the Roman priest is not permitted to live in lodgings. In 
this, as in many other practical matters, the Roman Church 
exhibits the sagacity born of long experience. It early 
learned that to do his best work the priest must have his 
own residence, where he can live with sufficient comfort 
to sustain good health and with a dignity which will 
maintain his own self-respect and the regard in which his 
parishioners hold him. Living in his own house, he is also 
better protected from malicious gossip and from untimely 
interruptions. The older Protestant churches have also 
appreciated the value of a suitable residence for the min¬ 
ister. Anciently in England no church might be conse¬ 
crated unless there were a parsonage and glebe attached to 
it, and to-day almost every Anglican parish church has its 
rectory or vicarage. 

In the United States the custom of providing a par¬ 
sonage varies greatly with the locality and with denomi¬ 
national usage. The Protestant Episcopal Church, follow¬ 
ing the example of the Church of England, usually expects 
to provide a rectory for the minister. Almost every 
Methodist church owns a parsonage, and most Presbyterian 
churches provide a manse. In other bodies such provision 
is less common, in spite of the fact that a church adequately 

87 


88 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


equipped with a good parsonage is undoubtedly in a more 
advantageous position in the matter of securing a desirable 
minister, especially in times when there is a shortage of 
houses in the community. Many a church has failed to 
secure the man whom it had called to its pulpit because it 
could offer him no suitable place of residence, for a minister 
who is already well settled, especially if he have a family, 
is much less likely to accept a call to another field if, in 
making such a change, he must leave a comfortable home, 
and either camp out for an indefinite period in cramped 
quarters or pay an abnormally high rent for a badly located 
and unsuitable house. Every well organized and estab¬ 
lished parish should, therefore, consider a parsonage as a 
part of its essential equipment. 

Its location. 

There are, however, certain practical points which must 
be carefully considered in the purchase or erection of such 
a house. The first is the question of location. Where the 
church itself is located in a residence district, and land is 
available, it is best to erect a parsonage immediately ad¬ 
joining the church, so that the church, parish house, and 
parsonage form a consistent architectural group. This 
desirable arrangement may not be practicable where the 
church is an old one, or is located in a downtown business 
district. In such instances the parsonage should prefer¬ 
ably be built in that residence district in which the larger 
part of the parishioners themselves live, but, if possible, 
within walking distance of the church. The parish should 
avoid the choice, on the one hand, of a too fashionable 
street where the standard of living will be beyond the min¬ 
ister’s salary, or, on the other hand, of a mean street in 
a district which is on the down grade. The best location 
for a parsonage is on a quiet but easily found side street, 
where professional or business men of good standing live. 

In small towns or villages, where land is available, it is 
very desirable that there should be enough ground for a 
small vegetable garden and a few fruit trees. Gardening is 
a healthful relaxation for the minister, less expensive and 
more appropriate than golf. It is also desirable in most 


THE PARSONAGE 


89 


locations that there should be a small garage attached to 
the parsonage. 

Type of house required. 

The size and equipment of the parsonage should not be 
disproportionate to the minister’s salary. This dispropor¬ 
tion is likely to exist only when some parishioner bequeaths 
a dignified residence, with perhaps a good deal of ground 
about it, to the church for use as a parsonage. The inten¬ 
tion is good, but the residence may be too large for the 
minister, costly to heat, furnish, and keep in good repair, 
with the lawns and flower beds so extensive as to require 
the larger part of a man’s time to keep them neat and in 
good order. If the parsonage be unendowed, or if the min¬ 
ister has no private means to supplement his salary, such 
a residence may become a great burden to him. One finds 
such a condition not infrequently in England, where many 
a rectory is a residence requiring a considerable retinue of 
servants and a much higher expenditure than the income 
of the parish can possibly meet to-day. In such circum¬ 
stances the parish is practically limited in its choice of 
ministers to those few men who have private means. The 
only way out of such a situation is for the parish either 
to sell the residence which has been bequeathed to it and 
with the proceeds purchase more suitable quarters, or to 
secure an endowment for the parsonage, the income of 
which will adequately provide for the necessary periodical 
repairs, pay for the upkeep of the grounds, and meet 
charges for heat and light. Even where such an endow¬ 
ment is available the parish should remember that the 
minister’s salary must be sufficient to enable him to live in 
a way answerable to the residence which he occupies. It 
is not fair to put the minister and his family into some fine 
old mansion which has been bequeathed to the parish unless 
he is also paid a salary which will enable him to maintain 
himself respectably in the house in which he must live. 

One of the difficulties in planning a parsonage for a 
Protestant church lies in the marked variations in housing 
requirements of successive ministers. The minister for 
whom the parsonage is purchased or built may be, for 


90 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


example, a married man without children. His successor 
may have a family of four or five children. His successor 
in turn may be a bachelor. In view of these possibilities 
the only thing which the parish can do is to build a house 
suitable for an average family; sufficient, let us say, to 
accommodate the minister, his wife, and three children, 
with one guest room and one or two servants’ rooms in 
communities in which domestic service may be available, 
and at least two bathrooms. The childless minister, who 
does not need to use the whole house, can either close some 
of the rooms or rent them to lodgers. Even if there is an 
office or minister’s room at the church, the minister should 
also have a study in the parsonage to which he can retire. 
This room should not be located on the ground floor with 
an outside entrance to which visitors may come directly, 
thus depriving the minister of any protection against inter¬ 
ruption, but is best located in the top of the house where 
he will be less easily disturbed. 

Furnishing the parsonage. 

It is also desirable that the parsonage should be at least 
partly furnished, since many ministers do not own enough 
furniture adequately to furnish a house, or, if they are 
called from a distant part of the country, find it very 
expensive to ship for considerable distances belongings 
which may not be really worth the cost of transportation. 
Such furniture as is provided should be plain and simple, 
but substantial and in good taste—not dilapidated odds 
and ends left behind by preceding ministers, or ugly pieces 
of a bygone style discarded by the children of deceased 
parishioners of wealth, and foisted upon the long-suffering 
minister. Due allowance for wear and tear and breakage 
of furniture should be made in calculating the necessary 
expenditures for the maintenance of the property. 

Maintenance of the parsonage. 

In the Roman Church and in the Church of England the 
incumbent is responsible for repairs and maintenance of 
the priest’s residence. It should be remembered, however, 
that in those churches the priest has a much greater con- 


THE PAESONAGE 


91 


trol over the finances of the parish than is the case in most 
Protestant communions in this country, in which the min¬ 
ister generally has no authority to spend the money of the 
church. In these latter bodies, therefore, the minister 
should not be expected or required to pay any part of such 
charges, but the upkeep of the parsonage should be under 
control of the Committee on Grounds and Buildings, or of 
a sub-committee, who should be scrupulously careful to see 
that the parsonage is kept in good repair. Unless the 
responsibility for the maintenance of the parsonage is defi¬ 
nitely placed upon a single committee, what is everybody’s 
business becomes nobody’s business. It is frequently ob¬ 
served that an institution makes a poor landlord—that a 
church is more niggardly in the maintenance of its minis¬ 
ter’s residence or a college in the maintenance of its pro¬ 
fessors’ houses than the average landlord who is dependent 
upon rents for his income. The minister is not in the 
position of an ordinary tenant who can move to another 
residence if his landlord does not adequately maintain the 
property, for the minister usually must either live in the 
parsonage, no matter how shabby it may be, or quit the 
parish. Furthermore, the minister is in a position in which 
it is difficult for him to demand repairs or improvements 
which he would not hesitate to ask of an average landlord. 
All the more is the parish under moral obligation to main¬ 
tain the parsonage in good order; to make sure that the 
roof is tight, that the house is painted when necessary, that 
the furnace is adequate, that the walls are repapered when 
they become soiled, and that the whole property is suitably 
kept up. It is a good rule for the Committee on Grounds 
and Buildings to go over the parsonage every fourth year 
for minor repairs, and every eighth year for a thorough 
overhauling. Inasmuch as this will involve the periodical 
expenditure of considerable sums of money, it is advisable 
that the annual church budget should include a fixed sum 
to be set aside for repairs on the church and parsonage, so 
that money will be available when needed. Otherwise it 
will become necessary to raise a special fund whenever any 
substantial repairs are required. 

It is natural and proper that a parish should feel a 


92 


THE MINISTER AND ’HIS PARISH 


sense of pride in its ownership and due maintenance of the 
parsonage, but the Committee on Grounds and Buildings, 
and the parish as a whole, should recognize that the par¬ 
sonage is the home of the minister and of his family in pre¬ 
cisely the same sense as if he were occupying a privately 
rented house. Parishioners, therefore, should not treat the 
parsonage as semi-public property which they are at liberty 
to commandeer regardless of the convenience of the min¬ 
ister and his wife; and this applies equally to the parson¬ 
age furnishings, which should be borrowed for parish 
parties and similar occasions only in that measure in which 
any member of the church might be asked to loan articles 
for such church purposes. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE CHURCH FINANCES 

In the administration of a parish it should never be for¬ 
gotten that no church exists for its own sake, but only for 
the community in which it is placed, for the human souls 
which it can serve. Its purpose should never be either mere 
self-perpetuation or self-aggrandizement, but the mobiliza¬ 
tion and expenditure of all its powers, material, moral, and 
spiritual, for constructive w T ork in the lives of the men and 
women whom it is able to touch. That church is a success 
which is able to gather up and to expend approximately its 
full strength, be that strength little or great. That church 
is in some degree a failure which lacks the will or the 
ability both to gather up and to expend the power of which 
it is capable. 

Businesslike methods. 

Businesslike methods in the financial administration of 
a church are of vital importance to its welfare. Inefficient 
administration, hand-to-mouth ways of raising money, care¬ 
lessness or tardiness in the payment of bills, usually indi¬ 
cate low vitality in a church, and are a constant source of 
danger and an invitation to financial calamity. They are 
the result sometimes of ignorance or of timidity on the part 
of the minister, but more commonly of negligence and 
indifference on the part of the laymen, who frequently do 
not consult the minister about the business affairs of the 
church and resent or disregard suggestions from him. Not 
infrequently the laymen of a church shirk a large measure 
of their responsibility, either because the business is con¬ 
ducted by a little group who do not take the parish as a 
whole into their confidence, or because the affairs of the 

93 


94 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


church seem to them trivial and unimportant, with the 
result that church business is administered with a slackness 
which these same men would recognize as disastrous in a 
commercial enterprise. The financial problem of many a 
church would be well on the way toward solution if the 
business men of the parish would hold themselves respon¬ 
sible for the establishment and faithful administration of 
sound business methods in its affairs. 

The minister’s responsibility. 

The theory that the minister should have nothing to do 
with the business affairs of the church is a sound one in so 
far as it means that he should be relieved of all responsi¬ 
bility for raising or administering the income of the 
church. His relation to the trustees of the church, how¬ 
ever, is in certain aspects not very unlike that of the 
manager of a cotton mill to its board of directors. He 
should be invited to sit with the board and enter into its 
counsels save on exceptional occasions, and he is entitled 
to a thorough acquaintance with the business affairs of the 
parish to which he ministers, especially as only too often his 
professional success is largely measured by the financial 
condition of the church. It is true that a minister of 
deeply spiritual nature and gifted with unusual preaching 
ability may cause his church to grow in spite of the handi¬ 
cap of inefficient administration by the laymen, but poor 
business methods will be an unnecessary drag upon an 
otherwise successful ministry. Fortunately it frequently 
happens that vigor and spiritual power in the pulpit so 
stimulate the congregation that they develop into a careful 
and well-managed organization. Such a result is almost 
certain evidence that the church is spiritually sound, where¬ 
as continuance in slipshod methods is almost equally posi¬ 
tive evidence of spiritual decay. “When the temporalities 
go wrong, ’’ wrote a wise Roman Catholic bishop, * ‘ the spir¬ 
itualities are sure to get into disorder.” Efficient admin¬ 
istration, in raising money so that an adequate income is 
secured for the work of the church, in prompt payment of 
bills, and in making a complete public report of income and 
expenditure, will build up the self-respect of the parish 


CHURCH FINANCE 


95 


and gain the respect of the community, which unhappily 
has only too good reason for surprise when a church trans¬ 
acts its affairs with scrupulous care. It is particularly 
important that the church should make full and prompt 
payment for all goods received or professional services ren¬ 
dered, without soliciting special discounts, or gratuitous 
service from, for example, a lawyer or an architect, even 
though they be church members, unless it be freely offered 
as a contribution to the church. 

Miscellaneous sources of income: (a) plate collections. 

It is essential that the great bulk of the money needed 
should be secured from dependable sources, allowing only 
a small margin for income raised by the uncertainties of 
plate collections, by church fairs, or by the rental of the 
church property for miscellaneous purposes. Income from 
these latter sources should be regarded as windfalls, being 
uncertain and fortuitous additions to the revenue of the 
church. The practice of taking up a collection during the 
service of worship is strongly to be commended. It was 
the usage of the early church and is the habit of many 
branches of modern Christianity. The collection offers the 
most convenient opportunity for many persons, especially 
of small means, or visitors, to make their financial contribu¬ 
tion to the church. It symbolizes the duty of the Christian 
to give as well as to receive. But it should be made a 
formal part of the service, and never be merely a mercenary 
solicitation. In churches of very limited resources it will 
be necessary to use the collection for the running expenses 
of the church, but wherever possible it is better to set it 
aside for special purposes, announced beforehand. 

The plate collections taken up in church should be car¬ 
ried to the church office or the minister’s study, immedi¬ 
ately after the close of worship, by the treasurer, or in his 
absence by some other church officer, and should be there 
counted. It is a good plan to have two persons count the 
money together. The amount should be noted on a slip of 
paper and initialed by one or both of those who have 
counted it. This procedure will protect the treasurer 
against the possibility of malicious gossip which may arise 


96 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


if he is careless in handling the church money. Some 
church treasurers, for instance, simply scoop the money 
into their own pockets, count it alone at home, and report 
the amounts only in their monthly or annual statements. 
Probably not one man in a thousand who does this is dis¬ 
honest, but the method is none the less objectionable . 1 
Care should be taken that the collection is not left lying 
in the plates, and the sexton should never handle it, not 
that sextons are any less honest than other men but simply 
because it is not fair to put temptation in their way and 
to subject them to possible suspicion. Therefore, if no 
church officer is at hand to take care of the money, the 
minister should do so himself, either turning over the 
cash or sending a check to the treasurer on Monday 
morning. 

In the same way the cash boxes near the door of the 
church, if there be any, should be regularly emptied and 
the amounts counted and noted by the treasurer or his 
deputy. This should be done at least weekly; in a much 
frequented church it may be necessary daily, since in 
large cities such boxes are always a temptation to sneak 
thieves. 

1 The following quotation from The Churchman of March 21, 1914, 
illustrates this point: 

“We know of one parish where the treasurer was accustomed to 
report to his rector the amount of the Sunday offering without 
troubling to count it. He ‘estimated’ it by-its bulk and carried 
it home to deposit in the bank the next day. No one but the treas¬ 
urer could possibly know the exact amount. He had held the office 
for years. Everyone knew him and his honesty was unquestioned. 

“Eventually this man incurred the enmity of certain malicious 
persons in the community. Little insinuations were passed which 
gained in volume as they traveled. The congregation suddenly 
realized that it had no means of knowing if its funds were accu¬ 
rately accounted for; its confidence was shaken and its gifts shrank. 
The vestry could not act without giving offense and positive proofs 
of irregularity were lacking. The treasurer could not resign his 
office without seeming to admit his guilt. It was a most distressing 
situation, which might easily have been avoided had the vestry been 
required, say by a diocesan canon, to protect its treasurer, and its 
treasury, by some simple provision for checks and audits. It is 
something which every parish treasurer should demand for his own 
security . 91 


CHURCH FINANCE 


97 


(b) The church fair. 

The church fair is economically wasteful, and is a poor 
means of raising money for running expenses, but may be 
justified as a successful method of bringing together people 
of diverse social groups in work for some common interest, 
for which special funds are necessary. The holding of 
raffles for any purpose whatsoever should be absolutely for¬ 
bidden, as should card parties and every other dubious 
method of making money. No church should ever solicit 
contributions from outsiders, particularly in the form of 
holding up local shopkeepers for donations—a singu¬ 
larly mean and improper way of raising money. 

(c) Renting the church property. 

The practice of renting the church or parish house for 
miscellaneous meetings not associated with the work of 
the church should be avoided whenever possible, since it is 
almost always disadvantageous to the church. If the use 
of the property is asked for some lecture of genuine educa¬ 
tional value, or for a community welfare meeting, it should 
be given without charge, except, perhaps, for a fee sufficient 
to cover the expenses actually incurred for extra heat, 
light and service. 

A church should never make any rental charge for the 
use of its building for special services, such as christenings, 
weddings, or funerals, even in the case of persons who do 
not belong to the parish, although it may properly charge 
fees to cover the cost of expenses actually incurred in con¬ 
nection with such services, such as additional payments to 
the sexton or the organist. Such fees, however, should be 
on a fixed scale, approved by the governing board of the 
church, and printed in a form which can be handed to 
persons desiring the use of the church, so that they may 
know in advance what the charges will be and may make 
their plans accordingly. One important city church keeps 
on hand the following schedule which will serve as a 
sample: 


98 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


(NAME OF THE CHURCH) 

(Location) 

Charges for Special Services in the Church ( Christenings, Wed¬ 
dings, and Funerals), Fixed by the Board of Trustees 

There is no charge for the use of the church building for these 
services, whether in the case of parishioners or of strangers. 

The sexton is entitled to a fee of $5.00 in cases where he has 
to open the church especially for the occasion, or render other 
specific services, but not otherwise. 

The organist is entitled to a fee of $25.00 in cases where he 
comes to the church for a special service. No person other than 
the regular organist of the church is permitted to use the organ 
without the organist’s knowledge and consent. 

The members of the choir (quartet) are entitled to a fee of 
$5.00 each in cases where they come to the church for a special 
service. If singers other than the regular choir are desired 
arrangements must be made with the organist. 

If an awning is required at the church porch the charge for 
setting it up will be $10.00, payable to the Smith Awning 
Company. 

If a police officer is required at the church door the charge will 
be $3.00, payable to the Police Department. 

Persons who desire a simple service at an hour when the church 
is in any case open are under no obligation to incur any of the 
above-mentioned fees, which are payable only for services 
rendered upon request. 

The minister makes no charge for his services, and, in the case 
of funerals, if a charge for the minister is entered on the under¬ 
taker’s bill, it should not be paid. The minister is, however, at 
liberty to accept free-will offerings, either for himself or for the 
benefit of the church, from such persons as choose to send them 
after any special service, and he is entitled to re-imbursement 
for any expenses which he may incur in connection with the 
service. 

No special service shall be conducted in this church by any 
person other than the settled minister thereof without his knowl¬ 
edge and consent, or, in the case of his absence, that of the 
chairman or other ranking officer of the Board of Trustees. 

The proprietary system. 

Three methods of providing a fairly assured income are 
to a greater or less degree in use among the churches of 
this country, viz., the proprietary system; the pew-rental 


CHURCH FINANCE 


99 


system; and the free-pew or subscription system. Before 
the Reformation all parish churches and cathedrals were 
open to all persons on equal terms. The custom of assign¬ 
ing seats to parishioners came in after the Reformation. 
In this country the proprietary system is an inheritance 
from the eighteenth century, now found only in our older 
churches. Under this system the parishioner purchases the 
legal title to a pew in the church, and thereby becomes a 
“ proprietor ” and voter,—in effect a stockholder. The 
pew is a part of the estate of the holder, being classed as 
personal property in Massachusetts, and as such can be 
disposed of by sale or bequest, though usually under condi¬ 
tions prescribed by the church. The right of the owner is 
limited, however, to use at the usual times of divine service, 
and he cannot use it for any other purposes. His rights, 
that is, are subordinated to those of the congregation. In 
a proprietary church the income of the church comes from 
the taxes levied annually upon each pew for a propor¬ 
tionate amount of the church expenses. This was the 
normal method of church finance in many of our older, 
well-established communities during the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries, and under the conditions of that 
period did produce stable and dependable income. It is, 
however, open to many objections. It is undemocratic, 
since only proprietors may vote, and thus many regular 
attendants of worship may be excluded from the fran¬ 
chise ; it tends to give the control of the church into a few 
hands; and often, in the passage of time, results in the 
possession of pews and votes by persons who care abso¬ 
lutely nothing for the church save as it represents for them 
an investment of some financial or social value. No newly 
organized society should, therefore, adopt this method of 
raising money. 

The pew-rental system. 

The second system is the pew-rental system, in which the 
society owns the pews, but secures its income by renting 
them out for sums which vary according to the desirability 
of the pew. This method is more common, and open to 
fewer objections than the proprietary system, but also is 


100 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


undemocratic, giving the best seats to those who pay most, 
and often withholding a vote from those who may attend 
church habitually but who cannot afford to rent a pew. 
The strongest argument for this method, as for the pro¬ 
prietary system, is that the income to be derived from pew 
rents, like that from taxes on pews, can be closely calculated 
and is not subject to rapid fluctuations. These advantages, 
however, may be secured in almost as great degree if the 
subscription, or “free-pew” system, is carefully adminis¬ 
tered, without the moral and spiritual drawbacks involved 
in the older methods. Presumably, therefore, a newly 
organized society, or one moving into a new church build¬ 
ing, will avoid the pew-rental system. 

The subscription, or free-pew system. 

The third method, used in churches in which pews are 
neither individually owned nor rented, but in which all 
sittings are free, is the subscription system. In churches 
financially administered by this method the bulk of the 
income is raised by inviting members and attendants to 
subscribe annually such amounts as they feel able to give, 
to be paid in quarterly, monthly or weekly installments. 
This “free-pew” system is the most modern and demo¬ 
cratic way of financing a church, and is in wide use today 
among Protestant churches. 

Not infrequently an old church resorts to a combination 
of these methods, a proprietary church often also renting 
pews, or a pew-renting church also collecting subscriptions 
from non-renters, or a church which has sold or rented 
pews in the past may gradually change to the subscription 
basis, often with excellent results, both financial and spir¬ 
itual. Such a change of method is generally desirable, and 
should be brought about where practicable. Mixed meth¬ 
ods of finance are undesirable except in a transition period, 
or where legal entanglements inherited from the past 
prevent the complete application of the free-pew system. 

The budget. 

It is essential that the treasurer should know at the 
beginning of the fiscal year what regular income the church 


CHURCH FINANCE 


101 


can depend upon, whether from pew taxes, pew rents, or 
subscriptions, and that the budget should be cut so as not 
to exceed the promised income except in small amount. 
The system, or rather lack of system, followed by churches 
which habitually overspend their income, and at the end of 
each year face a deficit which has to be made up by appeal¬ 
ing to a few rich men in the congregation, is bad from 
every point of view, and should be completely abandoned. 
It is merely hand-to-mouth finance; it involves a lack of 
self-respect; it is liable to lead to disastrous results when 
the wealthy givers die, leave town, or weary of continually 
making up the deficits. Methods should, therefore, be 
adopted which will result in placing in the treasurer’s 
hands at the beginning of the year definite subscriptions 
or pledges which very nearly, if not quite, equal the esti¬ 
mated expenditures. Individuals are sometimes reluctant 
to commit themselves to a definite contribution, but the 
society as a whole must commit itself to a stated expendi¬ 
ture, and its individual members ought to take their 
share of the responsibility. In the few cases in which 
a subscriber proves unable or unwilling to pay his con¬ 
tribution, it is very seldom advisable to force payment by 
legal action. Losses from this source will seldom average 
more than one or two per cent a year, except in some 
great financial crisis when a whole community may be im¬ 
poverished. 

It is easier and pleasanter to get an adequate number of 
contributions at the beginning of the year than later to 
beg for money to pay a deficit which grows larger the 
longer it is shirked. The Board of Trustees should, there¬ 
fore, prepare a carefully studied budget, which should be 
submitted, in printed or typewritten form, at the annual 
parish meeting, showing the amount which the church will 
presumably be called upon to spend during the ensuing 
year. It is only fair to contributors that they should be 
informed in advance how much money will be needed, and 
that they should have opportunity to discuss expenditures. 
A well-planned budget will greatly lessen the risk of a 
deficit at the end of the year, whereas haphazard expendi¬ 
ture is very liable to leave the church in debt. 


102 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The treasurer’s report. 

The annual report of the treasurer should also be sub¬ 
mitted in printed form (or typewritten or mimeographed 
where cheaper), and should be placed in the hands of every 
person attending the annual meeting. Reference to printed 
or typewritten copies is essential to any intelligent under¬ 
standing of the statement, and prevents the suspicion that 
something is being withheld from examination or criticism. 
The financial statement should contain, 

(a) The treasurer’s itemized report of all receipts, ex¬ 

penditures and balances, which should check 
exactly with the treasurer’s books as verified by 
auditors. 

(b) A statement of any adjustments necessary to show 

the actual income and charges belonging to the 
year, whether paid within the year or not. (This 
may be omitted where the adjustments are so 
small in amount as to make inclusion unneces¬ 
sary.) 

(c) A statement of current assets and liabilities. 

( d ) A statement of all important increases and decreases 

as compared with the items of the preceding year. 
(In the printed report these items may be con¬ 
veniently shown by setting them in a column on 
the left-hand side of the statement, parallel 
with (a). 

( e ) A statement as to any endowment funds held by the 

society. 

(/) A statement by a professional auditor, or by the 
auditing committee of the Board of Trustees, 
showing that the treasurer’s accounts and vouch¬ 
ers have been examined and found correct. 

( g) The itemized budget for the new fiscal year, recom¬ 
mended by the Board of Trustees, subject to dis¬ 
cussion and adoption by the meeting. Any im¬ 
portant increases or decreases should be shown 
and explained. 

It is often helpful to include a classified list of last year’s 
subscriptions, thus: one at $500; three at $100 or over; 


CHURCH FINANCE 


103 


five at $75; ten at $50, etc., down to the lowest amounts, 
so that the subscriber may more easily judge what amount 
it is appropriate for him to give. But the subscription 
lists showing the names and contributions of each indi¬ 
vidual giver should never be published, and should be held 
confidential by the Board of Trustees, since many indi¬ 
viduals greatly object to any announcement of the amount 
of their contribution, and are entitled to have their wishes 
respected. Items of expenditure should be classified under 
several heads, e.g., salaries; music, grounds and buildings; 
benevolences, etc. 

Methods of securing subscriptions. 

The annual meeting of the parish, at which are pre¬ 
sented the treasurer’s report for the closing year and the 
budget for the new fiscal year, is the best and most appro¬ 
priate time for securing contributions. As large an attend¬ 
ance as possible should be drawn out, using pulpit, press 
and circular notices, and personal effort, and, where pos¬ 
sible, there should be a parish supper before or after the 
meeting. This latter feature gives a social character to 
the gathering which attracts the less devoted adherents 
of the church and gives the trustees a desirable opportunity 
of interesting them. At the meeting there should be oppor¬ 
tunity to ask questions about the treasurer’s report, after 
which the budget for the ensuing year should be discussed 
and voted item by item, at least for the chief items. The 
people should have a real voice in the business, and should 
commit themselves to the proposed expenditures, instead 
of simply accepting what has already been settled for 
them by the trustees. When this has been done sub¬ 
scription cards should be passed about and subscriptions 
invited. 

The most convenient form of subscription card is one of 
standard size and shape, easy to file, with a column of 
amounts ranging, say, from $500 down to $1, against which 
the subscriber may indicate by an X the amount of his 
pledge, and also the way of paying it, whether annually, 
quarterly, monthly, or weekly. Every individual should be 
urged to subscribe, no matter how small the amount some 


104 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


may be able to give. The young people of the church espe¬ 
cially should not be overlooked, but should be invited to 
give what they can, that they may early begin to cultivate 
the habit of sharing in the support of their church. The 
real strength of the finances of the church does not lie in 
a few large subscriptions, which are liable sooner or later 
to fail, but in securing a large number of small subscrip¬ 
tions. It has been truly said that “it is the small sub¬ 
scriptions which pay the bills.” Furthermore, there is 
always danger that the large giver may attempt to exercise 
an undue measure of control over the church, forgetting 
that no gift of money can purchase the right to dictate the 
policy of the church or to influence the pulpit. The larger 
the number of subscribers the less will be this danger, 
therefore the envelope system should be adopted for those 
who desire to give small weekly contributions, even though 
this involve an increased amount of clerical work for the 
treasurer. The subscription cards should be collected and 
the results reported before the meeting adjourns. The 
financial statement and appeal for subscriptions at the 
meeting should be brief and to the point, and care should 
be taken not to overurge people to give. The subscription 
card should not be a demand, but an invitation to join in 
constructive religious work for the welfare of the com¬ 
munity and for wider missionary endeavor. 

As soon as practicable after the annual meeting a letter 
should be sent, in the name of the trustees, to all who have 
not yet subscribed but who may be reasonably expected to 
do so. This letter should be accompanied by printed copies 
of the treasurer’s report and of the budget. It should not 
be sent in one-cent circular envelopes, but should be per¬ 
sonally signed by one or more trustees, and sealed. The 
letter should say that a personal call will be made within 
a few days if further information is desired, but should 
ask that if convenient the subscription card be returned 
by mail to save trouble. Those who do not send in a sub¬ 
scription should be visited by representatives of the church 
a few days later. The committee appointed to do the 
calling should be carefully chosen and should call in 
couples, each couple being assigned the persons with whom 


CHURCH FINANCE 


105 


they are likely to have the most influence. Some such 
visits are generally necessary, as some individuals who 
are really willing enough to give take it as a matter of 
course that they shall be personally solicited. 

In some cases it may prove best to vary the above pro¬ 
cedure by having an “Every Member Canvass’’ just before 
the annual meeting of the parish. Where this is done 
announcement should be made that all persons will be 
called upon on a given Sunday afternoon by representa¬ 
tives of the church, who will collect the signed subscription 
cards, and report the results at the meeting. The minister 
should never be assigned to this service, which is out of his 
province, though the service on the following Sunday may 
well be devoted in part to an account of the purposes, work, 
and value of the church, with a view to increasing appre¬ 
ciation of it and devotion to it, but direct appeals from 
the pulpit for money from the congregation should be 
avoided save in cases of extreme necessity. 

If, at the end of a fortnight, when the returns are in, 
there remains a small deficit, it may probably be disre¬ 
garded, in the hope that economies and plate collections 
may wipe it out. If there are indications of a large deficit 
steps should be taken at once to secure more or larger sub¬ 
scriptions, for another canvass toward the end of the year 
to make up a large deficit will greatly injure the chances 
of securing subscriptions at the next annual meeting. If 
a diligent canvass at the beginning of the year does not 
develop sufficient resources to meet the budget, a reduc¬ 
tion of expenditure becomes necessary as a matter of 
business ethics. Otherwise certain trouble is ahead, which 
will grow worse the longer the matter is deferred. A par¬ 
ish meeting called to consider reducing the budget will 
sometimes obviate the necessity of a reduction by drawing 
out new subscriptions, for some people will only give to a 
voluntary organization under a sense of necessity. 

Here and there persons will be found to object to the 
foregoing method on the ground that it is bad taste or bad 
policy to make any public announcement of the financial 
conditions of a church. Those, however, who contribute 
to a church stand to it in the relation of shareholders, and 


106 THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 

are entitled to know how their enterprise fares. It is, 
therefore, desirable not only that the trustees should have 
a treasurer’s report at their regular monthly meetings, but 
that the printed statement should be provided for at the 
annual parish meeting. Objection is sometimes made that 
if a surplus is shown the people will no longer exert them¬ 
selves, or, if there be a deficit, outsiders will see how 
meager are the resources of the church. Ordinarily few 
churches show any larger surplus than the trifling balance 
which prudent management may carry forward to the 
ensuing year. This is as it should be, for a considerable 
surplus in successive years commonly indicates that the 
church is giving less than its full strength to its work. 
Such a continued surplus is sometimes turned into an 
endowment fund, but it is better policy to spend the full 
income of the church year by year, and to develop the 
endowment fund from special gifts or bequests. Speaking 
generally, a church ought not to accumulate surplus in¬ 
come, any more than should a college, unless it be for a 
brief period and for some specific object which will enlarge 
or solidify its work. Success in both types of institution 
is measured by expeditures, not by surplus income, for the 
purpose of both is not financial profit but enlargement of 
life. 

A church, however, is much more liable to show a deficit 
than a surplus, and sometimes people fear the result of 
the publication of such information. But knowledge of the 
facts very seldom really hurts a church if its business 
affairs are properly administered, and it must not be for¬ 
gotten that the church is a semi-public institution in which 
the community at large has also a financial stake through 
the remission of taxes, a contribution which, in the case of 
some city churches, amounts to a large sum. Furthermore, 
the number and size of subscriptions to the church will 
depend in considerable measure upon how fully the mem¬ 
bers appreciate the work which the church is doing and 
realize its financial condition and needs. Where a parish 
is in healthy condition it is sound policy to keep its mem¬ 
bers well informed about its affairs, since they will give in 
proportion to their interest and pride in the church, and 


CHURCH FINANCE 


107 


where a church is not in healthy condition its supporters 
certainly ought to be informed of the fact. 

Endowment funds. 

Where a church holds a general endowment fund, or a 
fund given to support some specific phase of its work, a 
statement as to such fund should always be included in 
the annual published report of the treasurer. This state¬ 
ment should give the amount of both the principal and the 
income of the fund; it should list the securities in which 
the fund is invested and should name the bank in which 
any cash balance is deposited. The principal should be 
invested only in securities suitable for trust funds, and no 
part should be used to pay any debt of the society, unless 
the fund is specifically given to be used in such way, or be 
invested in any mortgage or other obligation of the church 
or of any members thereof. Carelessness in the choice 
of investments has in many cases resulted in the loss or 
grave diminution of church funds, often seriously ham¬ 
pering the work of the church through loss of income, and 
exposing negligent trustees to the risk of legal prosecution. 
Publicity tends to prevent such carelessness. In small 
societies, or where expert advice as to investments is not 
readily obtainable, it is wise to entrust the principal to 
some large denominational organization, which will agree 
to take care of the fund and to turn over the annual income 
to the society in accordance with the purpose of the donors. 

Where it is desirable to build up an endowment fund 
an appeal for gifts or bequests for such purposes should 
be made at least once a year, perhaps in the minister’s or 
treasurer’s annual report, and any accumulated surplus 
income may, under exceptional circumstances, and with the 
consent of the parish, be added to the endowment fund. It 
is well to remember, however, that while an endowment 
fund is a valuable asset in some cases, and may, indeed, be 
essential to the life of an historic church or of one with 
a peculiar work to do either at a strategic missionary point 
or where large benevolences are called for, it is neither 
necessary nor desirable that every church should be en¬ 
dowed. It is often better that a church should disappear 


108 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


when it ceases to be self-supporting, and the members of 
a church with an endowment need constantly to beware of 
the moral and spiritual decay which is certain to ensue in 
any organism which lives without exertion upon the gifts 
of the dead. 

Insurance. 

The trustees should not fail to keep all the destructible 
property of the church adequately insured in a reliable 
company. Instances have occurred in which a church has 
been well-nigh ruined by loss of its property by fire after 
the insurance policy had been allowed to lapse. The 
treasurer’s report should include a statement as to the 
amount of insurance carried on the property and, where 
the premium is paid in a lump sum covering several years, 
the entry in the treasurer’s report should indicate that 
fact. Thus if the premium be $150 paid for five years’ 
insurance, the report should show advance payments at 
$30 a year for the period covered. 

Benevolences. 

Every church has occasion to raise money during the 
year for purposes outside the ordinary running expenses 
of the parish,—for the missionary organizations of the 
denomination, for 4 ‘general charities,” or for some par¬ 
ticular benevolences in which it may be interested. There 
are three ways in which money may be raised for such 
purposes: by having the trustees set aside a fixed sum for 
the desired object, out of the general income of the church; 
by taking up one or more special collections on dates pre¬ 
viously announced; by asking people to subscribe in 
advance, payment to be made by the envelope system. 

The first method is an undesirable one, since it practi¬ 
cally diverts to outside purposes money presumably sub¬ 
scribed to meet the running expenses of the church, and 
also it fails to make any appeal to the missionary or phil¬ 
anthropic spirit of the people. The second method is an 
excellent one when systematically followed, in churches 
where such outside interests are well organized and sus¬ 
tained. The third method is best where donations are made 


CHURCH FINANCE 109 

in small amounts, and where the envelope system is in 
general use. 

Every church should adopt either the second or the third 
method, for it is a well-recognized fact that, next to the 
efficient administration of its own affairs, the responsibility 
assumed by a church for missionary and philanthropic 
purposes is perhaps the best test of its vitality. It is often 
best to put the management of the benevolences of the 
parish into the hands of a special Committee on Benevo¬ 
lences, with its own treasurer who collects and disburses, 
at the direction of the Committee, the money raised for 
these purposes. The Committee should represent all the 
varied interests of the parish and should, of course, work 
in cooperation with the trustees. The best results are 
secured when the distribution of the money thus raised is 
left to the discretion of the Committee; for the Committee, 
knowing all the contributions, can usually apportion them 
better than any individual contributor. The treasurer of 
the Committee should also make a report, duly audited, at 
the annual meeting of the church. 

Churches which adopt modern business methods, with a 
carefully prepared budget; publicity of accounts; a well- 
planned annual parish meeting; and prompt and efficient 
management in the treasurer’s office, not infrequently 
find that their income is considerably increased thereby. 
It should never be forgotten, however, that even the best 
system which can be devised is not automatic, and will 
work only when there is intelligence and energy behind 
it. The system can simplify the treasurer’s task, but it 
will produce the expected results only when it is admin¬ 
istered by a man who really cares about making it go. 



CHAPTER X 




^ 'THE MJNfe^ER’S SALARY AND FEES 

The mi$jjtfer’s Salary, x ^ s+ % 

Therirujiiste^^si^fc^should be regarded as the primary 
charge w&h’trfe (^4®eh is under obligation to meet. As 
stated in k 'j|^oopeiimg chapter, the call to the minister and 
his accept&ppe constitute a contract between him and .the 
church, ^hich renders the v letter .legally liable for the 
salary at which he was engaged.. *p.rdinarily the free^use 
of the parsonage is understood, units' special arrangements 
provide otherwise, and its fair rental value is often com¬ 
puted us a parj, of the salary. Monthly payment of the 
salary tas usual, and is preferable to quarterly or semi- 
annua^payments, since few ministers have other income to 
draw u]k>n and must meet their household bills monthly. 
^kFor the^ame reason prompt payment of the salary is very 
^lmportan% to the minister, who is liable to grave incon¬ 
venience if his salary is delayed or is paid at uncertain 
intervals. Indirectly the church itself suffers from the 
resultant inability of the minister to pay his bills promptly, 
for the accumulation of debts on his part will ultimately 
reflect discredit on the church. Uncertainty as to when he 
will receive his salary has also a very unsettling effect upon 
him, and may become a real point of irritation, about which 
it is difficult, for him to speak frankly but which neverthe¬ 
less tends to alienate him from his parish. To let the min¬ 
ister ’s salary run unpaid is, in effect, to require him to loan 
the church money without interest Instead of doing this 
the. church should, if necessary, arrange for a loan from the 
baflk ydth which to pay its bills, and it should be under¬ 
stood from the outset that this will be done when occasion 


110 



THE MINISTER’S SALARYt ANR. FEES 111 

The relationshixTbetween the mijaister an&' ; Jus parish 
should be regarded as primarily a spiritual tJond rather 
than a business transaction, but. this" result is most surely 
attained by eliminating causes ’ of^friction ofc misunder¬ 
standing about money matted *and reducing communica¬ 
tions on the subject to the necessary^ainimum. To this 
end the treasurer should be punctilioui^Hi^e paymenj* of 
salary on the exact date upon which it'Slrau^and should 
arrange to deposit the monthly check ;to tM jpinist^u’s 
credit in the bank in which he keeps his accoufi|L without 
requiring him to sign a receipt. . ]/!>' *>Jr 


The theory of the minister’s “living.” ’ ^ . 

The church is liable to forget the principl^Aftyolved in 
the matter of the minister’s salary. He is nqLa “hired 
man,” who is paid to do a certain work, but a*fu*oiessional 
man, in a sacred vocatioh, who is assured a living in order 
that he may render & certain service to the community. 
Indeed the old English use of the word “living” for the 
income of an ecclesiastical benefice indicates precisely the 
theory upon which the minister is paid. He is not working 
for profit, nor for the money there is in the position, but 
is given a maintenance because only so can he be freed > 
from other labor to give his full time and strength to the ^ 
work of the church. In almost every branch of the Chris¬ 
tian Church it has been regarded as undesirable that the 
minister of religion should be involved in money-making 
occupations which almost inevitably tend to distract him 
from his religious duties. No man can well serve two mas¬ 
ters—he cannot do his best work for God and also con¬ 
stantly be on the lookout to make money. Jesus, during his 
ministry, was supported by his followers, “who ministered ^ 
unto [him] of their substance.” 1 St. Paul did, indeed, 
maintain himself by tent-making, but he was not a married 
man and the circumstances were quite exceptional, and, 
furthermore, he clearly asserted the right of him who pro¬ 
claimed the gospel to live by the gospel. 2 The Society of 


*Luke viii, 3. 

3 1 Cor. ix, 7-14. 



112 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


Friends offers the most conspicuous example of habitual 
religious work on the part of persons whose living is not 
in chief part provided by the Society, and even here the 
exceptions are sometimes more apparent than real. George 
Fox in his early ministry seems always to have had enough 
money to live upon, from some source not now ascertain¬ 
able ; later he was largely maintained by his followers, and 
eventually he married a woman of property. John Wool- 
man and other Friends traveling “under a concern,” paid 
their way in part only, for the rest being entertained by 
members of the meetings which they visited. 

The Roman practice. 

The Roman Church has for many centuries required the 
“religious,” that is members of monastic orders, to take a 
vow of poverty, but this does not mean that monk and nun 
are destitute, not knowing whence their food and clothing 
are to come. It means that they pledge themselves not to 
go into remunerative occupations, not to accumulate pri¬ 
vate property, but to give what they have to the church 
and to depend upon the church for support. In practice 
men and women are not ordinarily received into monas¬ 
teries or convents, nor are candidates for the priesthood 
ordained, unless their support is guaranteed by themselves 
or others. The secular priest in the Roman Church does 
not take the vow of poverty, but he may not undertake 
any kind of trade, nor the administration of temporal 
affairs without the permission of his bishop, nor may he 
accept the care of the money of other people, especially of 
the poor. The parish to which he is assigned must provide 
him with quarters in a priest’s house and pay him a fixed 
minimum salary, which is estimated as sufficient to enable 
him to live in simple comfort and good health. The parish 
must maintain him so long as he is competent to do the 
work. In addition he is entitled to fees for masses, bap¬ 
tisms, marriages, and other professional services. The 
salaries and fees are fixed at a uniform rate for all priests 
doing work of the same grade, the differences in compensa¬ 
tion arising generally from the greater number of fees to 
be obtained in large and popular parishes, often running 


THE MINISTER’S SALARY AND FEES 113 


up to handsome figures. If he be removed for disciplinary 
reasons, or physical disability, or old age, the priest’s sup¬ 
port is chargeable on the diocese in which he was ordained, 
and he will be cared for in a monastery or otherwise. 
Every priest knows that so long as he remains in com¬ 
munion with his church he need take no thought for food, 
clothing, or shelter. He is relieved from these anxieties 
that he may devote himself wholly to his work, unencum¬ 
bered by any worldly ties. In return for this protec¬ 
tion the church requires his unconditional obedience, so 
that he must go where he is sent and do what he is told by 
his ecclesiastical superior. 

The Protestant practice. 

The Protestant minister is, in certain respects, at a grave 
disadvantage in comparison with the Catholic priest. He 
has in most ways, indeed, a far greater freedom, but on 
the other hand far less security. Except in unusual cases 
he is not under obligation to go to any particular field at 
the command of a superior, but is free to accept or refuse 
any call which he may receive. On the other hand, he often 
has the burden of family responsibilities, and his position 
is far more precarious, because he seldom has any guar¬ 
antee of a living wage, or of protection in time of disability 
or when old age approaches. In this country the Prot¬ 
estant Episcopal Church, with its admirable pension sys¬ 
tem, comes nearest to making adequate provision for its 
ministers. The thoroughly successful minister in a strong 
parish gets a good salary, enough to live upon and to lay 
aside something against illness and old age. But although 
Protestant churches almost universally, and by a sound 
instinct, prefer a married man, many small churches pay 
what is really adequate only for the maintenance of a single 
man. The married minister, with, it is to be hoped, chil¬ 
dren to bring up, has a very difficult time to make both 
ends meet on a salary which often comes to no more than 
the stipend and perquisites of his celibate neighbor, the 
Catholic priest. Furthermore, since in a time of rising 
prices wages always rise more slowly than prices, and 
salaries more slowly than wages, most ministers today are 


114 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


not nearly so well off as they were before the Great War. 
There has been much discussion in recent years about the 
causes for the falling off in number and quality of recruits 
for the ministry. The causes are numerous and very 
complex, but one of the major factors is thought to be the 
unsatisfactory economic status of the Protestant ministry. 
It is not that anyone expects the ministry to offer financial 
prizes such as are obtainable by the ablest men in the pro¬ 
fessions of law or medicine. No man in his senses, much 
less one with high ideals, goes into the ministry simply for 
the pay. He chooses it, in spite of the low salaries, because 
it offers him a large opportunity for the service of God and 
man. He cannot properly perform that service, however, 
if he receives less than a decent livelihood. For their own 
sakes the churches need to reconsider the whole theory of 
ministerial salaries. Salaries ought to be regarded not as 
a pecuniary equivalent for services rendered, but as a 
living—a freeing of the minister from the necessity of 
worldly pursuits in order that he may give his whole time 
and thought to his charge. We hear much of the way in 
which riches distract men’s minds from spiritual things, 
and the Christian Church has been quite right in its feeling 
that the minister must not be a money-maker, lest he be 
absorbed in temporal affairs. But the pressure of poverty 
and of anxiety for the morrow may just as much force a 
minister to give undue attention to the cares of this world, 
especially if he have wife and child. If he is to pay his 
rent and his grocer’s bill and clothe and educate his chil¬ 
dren he is often obliged to do some close thinking about 
the situation. The alternatives before the Protestant 
churches are either to go back to a celibate ministry or 
to pay salaries which shall free the ministers from unneces¬ 
sary anxiety for the welfare of their families. 

President Charles W. Eliot, dealing with the kindred 
profession of teaching, has stated the situation in words 
which apply equally well to the ministry. ‘ ‘ Professors, ’ ’ he 
said, 4 ‘and other teachers . . . need to be relatively free 
from pecuniary cares so that their minds may run on their 
work. To this end they should have fixed salaries, and 
retiring allowances, so that they may adjust their scale of 


THE MINISTER’S SALARY AND FEES 115 


living to their earnings, and not have to think about mak¬ 
ing money, or feel anxiety about disability or old age. 
This detachment from ordinary pecuniary or livelihood 
anxieties is an important element in their mental freedom, 
and for the right kind of person a strong inducement to 
the profession. The teacher ought always to be a person 
disposed to idealism and altruism; and he should have 
abandoned all thought of measuring his success by the size 
of his income.” And again, speaking of the college presi¬ 
dent: “His inducements to laborious and responsible 
service are, however, different from those which are effec¬ 
tive with other sorts of leaders. A high salary, or the 
prospect of luxury for himself and his family, will not 
tempt him. . . . He cannot be induced to do his best work 
by offering him any money prize, and he will manifest 
no desire whatever for arbitrary power over masses of 
human beings, or for what is ordinarily called fame 
or glory. The effective inducement will be the prospect 
of eminent usefulness, public consideration, the provision 
of all real facilities for his work, enough relief from 
pecuniary cares to leave his mind free for invention and 
forelooking, long tenure, and income enough for healthy 
recreations. ’ 9 3 

What is an adequate salary t 

Owing to the wide variations m local conditions, it is 
impossible to lay down anything more than a general prin¬ 
ciple as to what constitutes an adequate ministerial salary. 
That principle may be stated as follows: An adequate sal¬ 
ary for a minister in any given parish is the amount which 
will enable him, with a wife and at least two dependents, 
to live with reasonable economy in a respectable house, in 
sufficient comfort to maintain the health of the family; to 
take sufficient recreation; to keep up his professional 
standards by the purchase of books and magazines, and by 
attending conferences; and to make due provision for 
illness and old age . In a word the minister, if his effec¬ 
tiveness is not to be handicapped, should have not a bare 

*C. W. Eliot, “ Academic Freedom,’ ’ in Northrup’s ‘ * Representa¬ 
tive Phi Beta Kappa Orations.” 


116 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


subsistence but a fair living salary. What constitutes a 
fair maintenance varies greatly in different sections of the 
country and in different types of community. It is not 
sufficient to say that a given minister probably receives as 
much money as the average of his parishioners, because in 
most cases more is expected of him than of the average 
layman in his parish. He has had to invest more in educa¬ 
tion than most laymen, and has constant calls upon his 
purse which they have not. In a farming district the min¬ 
ister who is paid $1,000 a year may have a larger cash 
income than any of his parishioners, but most of them get 
a large part of their living from their farms, and live on 
a scale which really represents an income of $1,200 to 
$1,800 a year. In towns and cities the minister’s expenses 
increase proportionately with the size of the community, 
and ordinarily are greater than those of most of his parish¬ 
ioners whose income is the same as his. The kindred, and 
certainly not overpaid profession of teaching offers a 
standard of comparison. In towns and rural districts the 
minister’s salary should equal that of the superintendent 
of schools, or of the high-school principal. In a university 
town the young minister should begin with a salary at 
least equal to that of an assistant professor and after some 
years of service he should receive a salary equal to that of 
a full professor. In large and important city churches it 
may be necessary to pay the minister a salary approxi¬ 
mating that of a college or university president to enable 
him to meet the demands which will legitimately be made 
upon him. It should be remembered that poverty is a 
relative matter, and that the man who feels poor is not 
necessarily the one with the smallest income, but he whose 
income is inadequate to meet the obligations imposed upon 
him by his work and position. 

The minister’s salary and the church budget. 

The proportion which the minister’s salary should bear 
to the total annual budget of the church will necessarily 
show great variation in churches of different types. When 
the total expenditure is $2,000 or less, the minister’s salary 
should represent from 75 per cent to 90 per cent of the 


THE MINISTER’S SALARY AND FEES 117 


total. That percentage will decrease with the rise in the 
total expenditures, so that in churches which spend $15,000 
to $20,000 the minister’s salary will average perhaps 40 
per cent to 45 per cent of the total. In the relatively few 
churches with an income exceeding $20,000 the percentage 
assigned to salaries is likely to rise again, because such 
churches are likely to employ more than one minister, 
besides other professional workers. The following table 
may roughly indicate what would seem to be a fair pro¬ 
portion of the total expenditures to be assigned to the 
salary of the minister: 


Total expenditures 


Minister’s salary 


Under $1,500 . 85%-90% 

$1,600 to $2,000 . 75%-85% 

$2,100 to $2,500 . 70%-75% 

$2,600 to $3,500 . 65%-70% 

$3,600 to $5,000 . 60%-65% 

$5,100 to $8,000 . 55%-60% 

$8,100 to $12,000 . 50%-55% 

$12,000 to $15,000 . 45%-50% 

$15,000 to $20,000 . 40%-45% 


In large churches with more than one minister the senior 
pastor’s salary should represent the percentage indicated 
above. His associate should be paid a salary not less than 
that represented by the salary percentage of a budget 
about one-half as large. 

Another method of arriving at a just estimate of what 
a given church should pay its minister is by a comparison 
of the general living standards of the community with the 
annual outlay required of a man living in the manner 
which the church expects of its minister. Such a scale as 
is suggested below can be only approximate, since condi¬ 
tions vary considerably even in communities of similar 
type in different parts of the country, but a comparison 
of this schedule with that showing the due percentage of 
the total church expenditures which should be assigned to 
the minister’s salary, will enable any church to reach a 
just conclusion as to what it should pay. 











118 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


Minimum Salaries 
With Without 


parsonage 

In rural districts and in small towns 

under 2,000 . $1,200 

Towns, 2,000-15,000 .$2,500 

Small cities, 15,000-50,000 .$3,000 

Medium cities, 50,000-200,000 -$3,600 

Large cities above 200,000 .$4,500-$6,000 

In missionary, secondary or sub¬ 
urban churches in such cities... $4,000-$5,000 


parsonage 

$1,500 

$3,000 

$3,500 

$4,500 

$5,000-$8,000 

$4,500-$6,000 


These figures are those suggested for mvnimum salaries, 
at the present cost of living (1923). The estimate is liable 
to fluctuations with the probable rise or possible fall in the 
cost of commodities. A few large city churches will pay 
more than the maximum suggested,—$10,000 or $12,000, 
or even $15,000 being no more than is necessary in a large 
church in a metropolitan community. 

A church which underpays its minister sometimes seeks 
to salve its conscience by making him “donations.” In old 
days, when cash was scarce, it was appropriate for the 
country minister to take part of his salary in wood, pota¬ 
toes, pork or apples. It is still possible for generous and 
thoughtful parishioners to add to the comfort and pleasure 
of the minister and his wife by gifts of fruit, vegetables, 
flowers or books, by lending them a motor car occasionally, 
or by showing consideration of them in other ways. Such 
fruits of genuine personal interest and friendship may 
amount to a considerable assistance to a family living upon 
a small salary, and may at the same time feed the spirit as 
well. But such friendly gifts should be distinguished from 
the occasional “donations,” whether of cash or of more or 
less useless articles, by which a church seeks to escape from 
paying its minister a suitable salary. It contributes to the 
self-respect of neither the minister nor the church to boost 
him over a hard place which he could have surmounted 
alone if he had had a fair living. A church which under¬ 
pays its minister is sure to get inferior service, because, no 
matter how devoted a man may be, there will be a certain 
standard of living below which he cannot maintain his full 






THE MINISTER’S SALARY AND FEES 119 


efficiency. On the other hand, the church which pays an 
adequate salary, so that the minister can maintain himself 
and his family in good condition and without avoidable 
anxiety for the future, is far more likely to secure the type 
of man it desires, and to retain him long in its service. 

Professional fees. 

A good many laymen suppose that the minister makes 
considerable sums each year, in addition to his salary, 
from professional fees for christenings, weddings, and 
funerals, and they like to believe that any inadequacy of 
his salary is thus made good. It is quite true that some 
ministers do receive from these sources a considerable addi¬ 
tion to their income. This is especially the case among 
priests of the Roman Catholic Church, in which payment 
for such services is a matter of course and on a fixed scale; 
and in some Protestant bodies, particularly with well- 
known men in populous communities. In most Protestant 
communions, however, such fees come only as voluntary 
offerings, and not as fixed charges. This has been the 
Protestant method of meeting the abuse which has arisen 
in the Christian Church from time to time when mercenary 
clergy have sought to extort money from their parishioners 
for special services. One of the letters of Pope Gregory 
the Great, written about 600, is a vigorous rebuke to a 
bishop who had extorted money from a devout Christian 
woman on the occasion of her husband’s funeral, and an 
old English provincial church constitution lays down the 
following rule: “We do firmly enjoin that neither burial 
nor baptism nor any sacrament of the church shall be 
denied to anyone upon account of any sum of money, nor 
shall matrimony be hindered therefor. ’ ’ 4 The Roman 
Church meets this abuse by fixing a scale of charges; most 
Protestant churches by an established custom that fees on 
such occasions shall be voluntary offerings. In the latter, 
as a matter of practice, no fee is offered or expected 
in a case of a large proportion of the funerals or christen¬ 
ings, and some ministers habitually refuse to accept them 
when offered for these services, though willing to accept 

4 PhilIimore: “Eccles. Law” (2d ed.), p. 632. 


120 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


them for weddings, for which the minister, as an officer of 
the law, is in fact entitled to make a small charge. This 
distinction has no logical foundation, though the reason 
commonly given is that the minister should not take money 
from people in time of sorrow, especially as the death in a 
family usually involves other heavy expenses. This may 
often be an adequate reason for refusing a funeral fee, 
though a young married couple, just starting out in life, 
may be as little able to afford a fee. 

The right attitude of the minister towards this question 
of fees is properly based on other grounds. When persons 
belonging to his own parish desire his services to marry 
them, to christen their children, or to bury one of their 
family, he should regard such offices as a normal part of 
his parish work and perform them regardless of any ques¬ 
tion of a fee. If they choose afterwards to send him a 
present, either money or some other gift, as a natural 
expression of their appreciation, .he need have no hesitation 
about accepting it, save in cases in which .he knows that 
they cannot really afford the fee offered. He must then use 
his best discretion as to how to return the fee without 
hurting the donor’s feelings—perhaps by asking the bride 
to accept it as his wedding present. 

In the case of persons not attached to his parish he 
should also conduct the desired office, and do so without 
the promise of a fee. Such persons have, however, no espe¬ 
cial claim upon him and should remember that the service 
which they are asking may take considerable time and prep¬ 
aration. A funeral service may take half his day, espe¬ 
cially if the burial be in some distant cemetery. The 
people who have called him to their aid would not expect a 
lawyer or a doctor, even if a personal friend, to render a 
definitely professional service without suitable compensa¬ 
tion, unless the case were one for charity. No more should 
persons able to pay a reasonable fee to a minister, other 
than their own pastor, who serves them in a professional 
capacity, neglect to do so, or send him a trifling sum, per¬ 
haps the same as the sexton’s tip. Yet this often occurs, 
generally as the result of sheer ignorance as to the right 
thing to do. Certainly there is no reason, in the case of 


THE MINISTER’S SALARY AND FEES 121 


such funerals outside of his own parish, why the minister 
should not accept a fee for his services. He should never, 
however, accept a fee from a brother minister, or a min¬ 
ister’s family, for a christening, wedding, or funeral. Such 
offices are always labors of love, though he may accept his 
expenses if they amount to more than a trifling sum. 5 

Some enterprising undertakers have a way of tucking 
into their bills a charge for the minister’s services. Doubt¬ 
less some of them do this in their desire to make sure that 
the minister is not overlooked, though instances are not 
unknown in which the undertaker, after the bill has been 
paid, has himself forgotten to send on to the minister the 
fee which he had collected. In any case the practice is an 
undesirable one, for it gives the impression that the min¬ 
ister has either permitted or requested a charge to be made. 
The first time that the minister discovers that any given 
undertaker has made such a charge he should request him 
not to do so again, and should return the fee to the person 
who has paid it, though he may properly accept it if it is 
again voluntarily offered as an honorarium. If the under¬ 
taker repeats the practice, or is discovered to have kept for 
himself the fee charged upon the bill, the minister should, 
whenever thereafter he has occasion to conduct funerals 
at which the offending undertaker is employed, notify the 
heirs of the deceased not to pay any such charge. The 
simplest way to establish a right understanding in this 
matter is for the minister, soon after his settlement and at 
intervals thereafter, to print in the church calendar a clear, 
simple statement as to the recognized practice in his 
denomination in this matter of fees for special services. 6 

The amount which a minister may receive from fees 
varies greatly with the custom of the locality and the 
nature of his parish. Wedding fees may range from 50 
cents to $100; probably $5 or $10 is the usual amount. A 
few ministers, settled in an exceptionally favorable loca¬ 
tion, or widely known and sought after, may receive as 
much as $1,000 a year from such sources. For most minis¬ 
ters the receipts from such sources are so small and irregu- 

6 See also pp. 168-169. 

* See p. 98. 


122 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


lar as to be a quite undependable source of income. It is 
the men in large and conspicuous parishes who receive the 
handsomest fees, while the men in small churches, who 
most need such augmentation of their salaries, receive few 
fees and small ones. In any case it is a grave injustice to 
the minister for the parish to assume that such receipts 
can be counted upon to supplement an insufficient salary. 
Even where the professional fees are considerable that fact 
does not justify the church in paying less than a fair 
salary. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 

The function of music in the church service. 

An understanding of the function of music in the order 
of worship is essential to any discussion of the position of 
the choir and organist in the church. Music is a marked 
form of emotional expression, natural and appropriate for 
a service of worship when rightly chosen and sincerely 
rendered. In churches with a highly developed liturgy, 
where the appeal is more emotional than intellectual, music 
holds an important place, for music stimulates the feelings 
much more quickly than words. Thus the Divine Liturgy 
of the Eastern Church is almost entirely sung or intoned, 
as is High Mass in the Roman Church. But the effect of 
music as an aid to worship depends entirely upon its char¬ 
acter. If it be frivolous or flamboyant it will not stimulate 
religious emotion but recall secular associations. Any 
music which by its character or its mode of rendition sug¬ 
gests the concert room may be more or less successful as 
a way of entertaining the congregation, but will fail as an 
instrument for promoting the worship of God, the only 
legitimate reason for introducing it into the church at all. 

Many music committees apparently fail to grasp this 
fundamental conception of the place of music in the church, 
and select the choir as they would pick singers for a con¬ 
cert. But the business of the organist and choir is not to 
please or entertain the congregation in the intervals 
between responsive psalm and prayer and sermon. It is 
as much out of place for the choir to address what it sings 
to the congregation as the minister to address his prayer 
to them instead of to God. The primary function of the 
choir is to lead the congregation in singing those parts of 

123 


124 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


the service in which the congregation can and should join, 
namely in the hymns, and in the chants and versicles if the 
service contain these elements. The secondary function of 
the choir is to heighten the religious appeal of the service 
by the use of appropriate music, such as anthems, too 
difficult for the congregation to sing. The reason why 
the music of the sixteenth century church of Western 
Europe, or of the modern Russian Church, is so appealing 
lies in the fact that it is a pure expression of religious 
emotion. The reason for the failure of so much of the 
music heard in Protestant churches is that such emotional 
appeal as it has is often of a secular rather than a sacred 
character, and because it is rendered as a concert to please 
the hearers instead of as an act of devotion. If the true 
function of music in the church service be thoroughly 
understood the music committee will be guided accordingly 
in its selection of organist and choir, and in its instructions 
to them. 

The music committee. 

The music committee, which should be elected by the 
parish at its annual meeting, is the responsible agent of the 
church in the engagement and control of the organist and 
choir. Some authorities advise that the minister should 
be given entire control of the music of the church, with 
authority over the choir. It is, indeed, essential that the 
minister should have direction of the conduct of the entire 
service of worship, but it is much better that he should 
have no responsibility for the selection or terms of employ¬ 
ment of organist or singers. In many churches this is 
beyond his authority, since the employment and compensa¬ 
tion of all persons paid by the church is legally in the 
hands of the parish alone, or of the trustees acting as their 
agents. Furthermore, the minister not infrequently is 
musically ignorant, and is not competent to select or 
instruct the organist or choir. The music committee 
should, therefore, be the intermediary between the church 
and the organist and choir, with authority to engage them 
upon terms either approved in advance or subject to con¬ 
firmation by the trustees, and to dismiss them in case of 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 


125 


necessity. The music committee should lay down the 
general principles to which the music of the church should 
conform, and should be the channel through which alone 
all instructions to the organist, or criticisms of the music 
should pass. If members of the congregation do not like 
the soprano’s voice, or the tenor’s red necktie, or the modi¬ 
fied ragtime which the organist played as a prelude to the 
service, they should not take their complaints to the min¬ 
ister and ask him to discipline the offending party, but 
should speak or write to the music committee. 

The music committee should have its own budget, and 
should be empowered to spend at discretion the appropria¬ 
tion for the year. It should keep a record of its actions, 
and copies of any contracts, directions or correspondence 
passing between the committee and the organist and choir. 
It is well to have the committee made up of from three to 
five persons, representing in some measure what are likely 
to be the rather varying tastes of the congregation. Mem¬ 
bers of the committee do not need to be professional musi¬ 
cians, but they should at least be educated musically, and 
persons of good taste, having an intelligent understanding 
of how the music of the church can best be made to promote 
the spirit of worship. They should not be chosen merely 
because of social prominence, or with the hope that they 
will help to pay the choir. The minister should not be a 
member of the committee, but he may appropriately be 
invited to sit with it from time to time, especially when the 
budget for the year is made up, or when any change in the 
personnel of organist and choir is contemplated. He should 
be free at any time to communicate his wishes to the com¬ 
mittee, and, though he has no authority either for the 
engagement or the discharge of the organist or any of the 
choir, and may not demand of them more service than 
their contract calls for, he has the right to ask the com¬ 
mittee that the organist and choir be required to carry out 
his wishes in regard to the conduct of worship. 

The organist. 

The organist should be given entire control of the instru¬ 
ment which he plays, and no other person should be 


126 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


allowed to use it without his permission. A good modern 
organ is a delicate and intricate affair easily put out of 
commission by careless or unskilled hapds, and it is unfair 
to subject the organist to such risks of damage to the 
instrument for which he is responsible. If the services 
of another player are desired for some special occasion 
the consent of the organist should always first be ob¬ 
tained. In the case of his absence he should be allowed 
to choose his substitute, after consultation with the music 
committee. 

The organist and choir-master are usually one and the 
same person, except in churches with a large choir which 
must be specially trained. In such churches there is often 
a 1 choir-master in addition to the organist. In small 
churches it is often necessary to depend upon a volunteer 
musician for service as organist, and often such individuals 
render very faithful and devoted service to the church, 
accounting it as their way of serving God. But there 
are unavoidable limitations to volunteer service, however 
devoted, for the volunteer is almost always an amateur 
instead of a professional, and the amateur’s training and 
technique are seldom equal to those of a professional 
musician. Therefore, when the finances of the church and 
the circumstances of the community permit, it is better 
for the church to employ a professional. 

The music committee should never forget, however, that 
something more than technical ability to play an organ is 
required to make a good church organist. The organist, 
whether man or woman, must also be a person of good 
character, must have a sympathetic understanding of the 
service of worship in which he or she is to take part, and 
must be able to control the choir. The professional musi¬ 
cian who regards the Sunday service simply as a pot-boiler 
which brings in a useful addition to his income, and whose 
only idea is to get through it with as little expenditure of 
time and trouble as possible, is likely to render service less 
satisfactory than that of a devoted amateur who may be 
quite inferior in technical training. The writer well re¬ 
members preaching in an attractive little church which 
had just been completed and which still lacked an organ, 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 


127 


so that the congregation was using a piano for its instru¬ 
mental music. At the piano was a highly trained young 
musician connected with the department of music of a great 
university. Seldom have I heard church music worse 
rendered. His conception of the prelude and postlude was 
that of playing numbers on a concert program. It was 
quite obvious that he despised the hymn tunes as musically 
inferior, and he ran through them with entire indifference, 
mach too fast to permit the congregation to sing well, 
treating them as pianoforte pieces. I have known many 
amateurs whose ability did not go much beyond the reverent 
rendition of a hymn tune who could have given that church 
far better service. 

The choir. 

Sometimes the choir is selected by the music committee. 
This is commonly the case where a single singer or a quartet 
is employed. Where there is a boy choir or a mixed chorus, 
it is commonly better to let the choir-master pick his own 
singers, subject to the terms of employment laid down by 
the music committee. In every case the choir-master should 
be responsible for the maintenance of discipline in such 
matters as prompt and regular attendance at rehearsals 
and service, and quiet and decorous behavior while in the 
church. Where there is a large choir the choir-master will 
probably need the service of an assistant to act as secretary 
in checking up attendance and payments. One of the 
older members of the choir can be employed for this 
service at a slight addition to his salary. 

Types of choir. 

The kind of choir used in any given church will depend 
in the first place upon the form of service used, and in the 
second place upon how much money the church has to 
spend upon its music. In the Russian Church the Divine 
Liturgy is sung by an unseen chorus of men’s voices 
unaccompanied by any instrument, with magnificent effect 
in the great churches which, before the Revolution, main¬ 
tained large choirs. A large proportion of the small 
Protestant churches in this country go to the other extreme 


128 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


and have no choir at all. In such case the music is, 
of course, limited to the congregational singing of a few 
hymns led by an organist playing a small instrument. 
Congregational singing can be greatly improved when cir¬ 
cumstances permit the employment of a precentor whose 
primary business is to lead the congregation in its sing¬ 
ing, but who should also be able to sing an occasional 
solo-anthem. A good baritone voice is the best for this 
purpose. 

Throughout the nineteenth century the great majority 
of Protestant churches which could afford to spend money 
for singers were in the habit of employing quartets, which 
became the typical church choir. Not infrequently, of 
course, the members of the quartet were devout Christians 
—perhaps members of the church—as well as good musi¬ 
cians moved by high ideals. Nevertheless the effect of the 
professional quartet upon church music was bad because 
it begot mischievous ideas as to the function of music in 
the church. Generally speaking the excellence of the music 
was estimated by the size of the salaries paid to the quartet, 
it being rashly assumed that the higher the pay the better 
was the music procured, although, as a matter of fact, 
much of the best church music cannot be properly rendered 
by a quartet. The result of that system was the church 
concert. Congregational singing was discouraged that 
the congregation might get its money’s worth in listening 
to the singers who were paid to worship God for it, an 
arrangement no more logical than the employment of hired 
mourners at a funeral. As many elaborate anthems were 
used as could be woven into the service. The writer recalls 
one church where this system was in vogue, in which no 
member of the congregation ever ventured to open his lips 
during the “musical numbers on the program” until the 
closing hymn just before the benediction, when at last the 
worshipers were permitted to pour out in song what hearts 
they had left in them. 

Fortunately for the spirit of worship the quartet choir 
made up of professional singers is increasingly a thing of 
the past. With the passing of this outworn and inadequate 
conception of church music, the quartet has in many cases 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 


129 


been replaced by a chorus choir. In the Protestant Epis¬ 
copal Church this is usually a boy choir. There is much 
to be said for this form of choir, but it calls for a skilful 
choir-master who is a sound disciplinarian. Another form 
of chorus choir is that of male adult voices, twenty to 
thirty in number. A well trained chorus of such voices is 
very impressive, especially in the rendition of the sixteenth 
century and the modern Russian church music, which was 
written for just such choirs, but the amount of such music 
available for the modern Protestant church is very limited, 
and the adult male chorus is hardly adapted to the ordinary 
parish church. For most churches which can pay a mod¬ 
erate sum for their music a mixed chorus of men and 
women of from twenty to thirty voices offers the most 
satisfactory results, especially if it can be largely recruited 
from the membership of the church itself. In a chorus of 
that size it is not necessary that the singers should have 
voices of more than very moderate quality, although it is, 
of course, an advantage to have three or four singers who 
are good enough to sing at least simple solo parts occa¬ 
sionally. The large majority of the choir, however, need 
only a modest equipment in technique and voice, and they 
can easily be trained to lead the congregation in a good 
rendition of hymns, chants and versicles, and they can 
learn a sufficient number of good simple anthems in the 
course of a year. 

Unless the choir is made up wholly of volunteers it is 
better that all should be paid a modest sum, on a uniform 
basis, except that a few voices competent to sing solo parts 
may be paid more than the others. There should be a scale 
of deductions for absence from rehearsals or services. 
Such a chorus choir will prove far more satisfactory than 
the old-time quartet, often at a smaller expense. In a large 
church it is possible to develop more than one such choir. 
There may be, for example, a senior choir, which is that 
ordinarily employed for the regular church service; a junior 
choir made up of young people who usually sing at the 
young people*s meetings; and a Sunday-School choir made 
up of children. On special occasions these choirs can 
be massed in the church, and members of the two younger 


130 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


choirs will naturally pass in the course of time into the 
senior choir. 

The location of the choir . 1 

The location of the choir in the church building will 
depend upon the architecture of the edifice and upon its 
form of worship. In a Gothic church the singers will nat¬ 
urally be placed in that part of the edifice called the 
“choir,” which they will enter and leave during the pro¬ 
cessional and recessional hymns. Nowadays many Episco¬ 
pal churches of Georgian or Romanesque architecture have 
been remodeled so as to allow the placing of the choir in 
the chancel. The normal location of the choir in a Georgian 
church, however, is with the organ in a choir loft at the 
opposite end of the church from the pulpit. When so 
located the choir can seldom reach it by marching in during 
a processional hymn, but ordinarily assembles in the choir 
loft before the service begins. Some choir lofts are so built 
so as to admit of only a few singers, making it difficult to 
place a chorus choir in them. 

An arrangement common in the last quarter of the nine¬ 
teenth century was to place the organ and choir either 
directly behind or alongside the minister. Where a choir 
is so located some form of processional and recessional 
entrance may be practicable, otherwise the choir should be 
in their places several minutes before the service begins, so 
that they may not come straggling in after a large propor¬ 
tion of the worshiping congregation is assembled. 

The robed choir. 

Where the choir is in plain sight of the congregation, and 
especially where processionals are used, it is highly desirable 
that the choir should be robed. In Protestant Episcopal 
churches it is the established custom to dress organist and 
choir in black cassocks and white surplices. There is no 
reason why other Protestant churches should not adopt the 
same costume. The cassock and surplice are simply relics 
of the dress of early Christians which have survived to our 
own day. Where such garments are accounted too eccle- 

*See also pp. 77-78. 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 


131 


siastical black stuff gowns of an academic type may be worn 
instead. It is not a question of introducing the use of 
ecclesiastical millinery into the church, but simply the pro¬ 
vision of a uniform costume for its value in adding to the 
dignity of the service and in obliterating individual idio¬ 
syncrasies. Anyone who has contrasted a file of rookies 
drilling in their variegated civilian dress with an equal 
number of soldiers in uniform knows how much the uniform 
adds to the dignity of a group of individuals moving to¬ 
gether. Similarly a choir marching into church, or stand¬ 
ing in sight of a congregation to sing, will be greatly 
improved in appearance if they are clothed in uniform 
attire. The unduly elaborate dress and picture hat of the 
soprano will disappear; the woman whose Sunday dress is 
very plain will be on an equal footing with her neighbors. 
If the choir is robed it will be easy to request the members 
to wear black and white clothing beneath their gowns and 
to eliminate any gay colors incompatible with the austere 
dignity of the uniform costume. Where there is a rooted 
objection to such a uniform dress for the choir, it is at least 
desirable to request the choir to dress very simply in black 
and white, and to avoid anything which calls undue atten¬ 
tion to the personality of the individual, but such sug¬ 
gestion should be made when the singers are engaged rather 
than afterwards, when the suggestion is liable to be 
interpreted as a criticism. Of course all the arguments 
for putting a choir into a uniform costume apply equally 
to the minister, whom it is also an advantage to have 
habitually dressed in either the cassock and surplice of the 
older usage, or the black silk “Geneva” gown of the 
Puritan tradition, while conducting worship. 

The minister’s relation to organist md choir. 

The principle was laid down in the second section of this 
chapter that the minister should be responsible for the 
direction of the entire service of worship. This includes 
the right to determine the points at which music is re¬ 
quired, the general character of the music to be used, and 
the selection of the hymns. Such measure of control is 
essential if the service is to be a unified whole, each element 


132 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


therein being coordinated with the rest to form an integral 
composition. 

It is obviously important that the minister should be on 
terms of friendly understanding with his organist and 
choir, and that they should feel that the social life and the 
religious opportunities of the church are fully open to 
them. The minister should make clear to them his concep¬ 
tion of worship, with the object of securing the fullest 
measure of cooperation from them. He should attend choir 
rehearsals occasionally, and should regard both organist 
and choir as his partners in the high office of leading public 
worship. If the organist and choir are volunteers the min¬ 
ister should not forget that they are giving their services 
as their contribution to the church life. If they are paid 
the minister should remember that they, like himself, have 
professional standards which should be respected. 

The minister should also have frequent and regular con¬ 
ferences with his organist that together they may plan for 
the coming services. Such conferences may well take place 
at least once a month. In a large and busy church it is 
desirable that the minister and the organist should meet 
oftener, perhaps each week. At such meetings the minister 
should lay before the organist full information as to the 
services scheduled for the period under consideration, indi¬ 
cating the type of music which will be appropriate to each 
occasion and to the theme of his sermon, and discussing 
any other points which may need to be considered. Such 
cooperation is essential if the music is to fulfill its true 
function in the service of worship. 

In the selection of music the general principle to be 
observed is that where instrumental music alone is con¬ 
cerned the selection thereof should be left to the organist, 
after the general character of music needed for any given 
service has been indicated, but that in the case of vocal 
music the words to be sung should be the primary considera¬ 
tion and should therefore be selected by the minister, the 
organist being responsible for the musical settings. If the 
organist is a well-trained professional of good taste and 
sound musical standards, he should be given a free hand 
in the selection of organ pieces and musical settings. Very 


THE ORGANIST AND CHOIR 


133 


few ministers have had sufficient musical education to be 
able to form a judgment concerning the excellence of an 
unfamiliar piece of church music. The wise minister, there¬ 
fore, recognizing his own limitations in this matter, will 
realize that his personal likes and dislikes are merely idio¬ 
syncrasies of taste. In order adequately to supervise the 
choice of words to be sung, however, the minister should 
have on file a complete set of anthems available for use by 
his choir, and he should go over them with his organist 
occasionally to eliminate such as have proved unsuitable, 
and to add others that may be desired. No anthems should 
be used which are not a natural and fitting expression of 
the worship of the congregation, and in accord with the 
theological position of the church. All anthems should be 
selected by the minister and organist in consultation, pri¬ 
marily with a view to the significance of the words to be 
sung, taking care that they are suitable to the particular 
occasion, thus avoiding an unhappy effect sometimes pro¬ 
duced by a careless organist from a haphazard selection in 
total disregard of appropriateness to the particular occa¬ 
sion or to the theme of the minister’s sermon. The same 
principle applies even more strongly to the hymns. They 
should always be chosen for their words rather than for 
their music. Under ordinary circumstances they should be 
sung to the tune to which they are set in the hymn book, 
but where there is a choice of tunes the selection of the 
music should be left to the organist, after consultation with 
the minister. The minister, remembering his responsibility 
as the leader of worship, should be careful to select his 
hymns and to indicate his preference as regards anthems in 
ample time for the choir practice each week. If he neglects 
to do so he has only himself to blame should the choir sing 
an inappropriate anthem on Sunday, and the organist 
bring him just before service a list of hymns which the 
choir has practiced and which the minister is requested to 
announce. 

The congregation should be strongly encouraged to join 
heartily in all the hymns, chants and versicles. These ele¬ 
ments in the service should, therefore, be sung at a moderate 
speed, with careful attention to the meaning of the words, 


134 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


without “shading,” or any unexpected modulations of the 
organ. So far as possible familiar hymn tunes should be 
used, and simple, standard chants sung Sunday after 
Sunday, new tunes or chants being only occasionally 
introduced. 


CHAPTER XII 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 

Shall the church advertisef 

The modern art of advertising in the commercial world 
is an outgrowth of the great business expansion of the last 
half century. It has developed a highly specialized tech¬ 
nique in the hands of experts, who have replaced the simple 
methods of our grandfathers by carefully studied appeals 
which aim not merely to inform possible purchasers where 
they can procure the goods which they need, but to stimu¬ 
late in them a demand for articles which they had not 
intended to purchase. Until the last fifteen or twenty 
years the churches lagged far behind commerce in the use 
of advertising, and today many churches still follow only 
the simplest forms of publicity. There are many people 
to whom the idea of advertising the church is repugnant, 
and whose dislike thereof has been intensified by samples 
which they have seen. Some of the earlier books on the 
subject urged the application to church publicity of some 
of the more startling, not to say blatant, methods of busi¬ 
ness advertising, and the jargon of the commercial sales¬ 
man has been used by religious promoters in a way to irri¬ 
tate and disgust devout and sensitive souls. Those who 
were jealous for the dignity and sanctity of religion could 
not bear to see it hawked about, like the wares of the 
market-place. Such advertising cheapens religion, and 
does not in the long run help the church. This sentiment 
the writer in great measure shares. Much of the church 
advertising of today is repellent rather than attractive, or, 
at least, is better adapted to draw a crowd of curiosity- 
seekers than to build up a congregation of worshipers. It 
is often based on a theory which seems psychologically 

135 


136 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


false. Nevertheless, the objection lies not against church- 
publicity in itself, but rather against unsuitable methods 
which have been used. It is not a question as to whether 
the church should advertise, but of how it should advertise. 

Traditional ways of attracting attention. 

In point of fact the church has taken care to proclaim its 
presence to the community ever since it emerged from the 
secrecy of the catacombs. Church-builders have always 
sought a conspicuous site, and have generally raised a 
structure which towered above the surrounding houses, 
with a heaven-pointing spire to catch the passer’s eye and 
bells to call the devout to worship. This was sufficient pub¬ 
licity when there was but one church in the village and the 
movement of population was slight. But with the growth 
of huge cities and the multiplication of denominations the 
number of churches increased so that even the citizens 
needed information as to the identity of this or that house 
of worship, while the fluidity of modern population has 
brought into town and city multitudes wholly ignorant of 
the location and character of its churches. Under these 
conditions the importance of a strategic site remains as 
great as ever, and a spire is still of value where not over¬ 
shadowed and dwarfed by business structures, but the 
church-bell has been for the most part silenced because its 
clangor adds to the noise and confusion of the city streets. 
To these age-old methods of attracting attention the mod¬ 
ern church has, therefore, added various other ways both 
of keeping touch with its own constituency and of drawing 
in newcomers. 

It has had its pulpit announcements; its bulletin board 
on the church front, giving at least the name of the church 
and the hours of service; and, since the advent of the 
modern newspaper, its notice in the church column in the 
press. In a modern community this is not only legitimate 
and proper—it is essential. The only question is how best 
to present the appeal of the church to the community. It 
is all very well to say that people should of their own voli¬ 
tion seeks out the kind of church which meets their needs 
and that the church should not try to draw them in by 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 


137 


“offering attractions.” But in practice the stranger in a 
large town or city must be given every reasonable assist¬ 
ance in finding the church of his choice, and there is his¬ 
toric justification for seeking out people in the byways and 
hedges with invitations to come in. 

The type of appeal. 

In planning the advertising for a church the first point 
to consider is the section of the public which the church 
desires to interest and attract. While in a sense it is true 
that the church seeks all men, and while in a rural or vil¬ 
lage community which is fairly homogeneous in character 
a single church may serve the whole community, in towns 
and cities with mixed population of widely divergent tastes 
and interests no single church ever will or can appeal to 
all sorts and conditions of men. People will be drawn to 
this or that church in the social groups into which they nat¬ 
urally fall; by their likes and dislikes as to different types 
of service; or in accordance with their theological convic¬ 
tions and their taste in preaching. The same publicity 
which attracts one sort of people to a given church may 
turn away another type. Each church must, therefore, 
study its natural constituency, and must ask what kind of 
publicity will be likely to reach the group for whom its 
worship has the most effective appeal. A church with a 
stately service, a thoughtful preacher, and music of high 
quality, will never draw people who like florid or popular 
music, sensational preaching and what is called “a bright, 
cheery service.” The advertising of each church must 
truthfully indicate the type of church that it is, and the 
kind of service which the visitor may expect to find there. 
Furthermore, it must always be remembered that while a 
vigorous advertising campaign may induce people to visit 
a church once or twice, no amount of advertising will hold 
them. That can only be done if the church fulfills its 
promises and actually gives them what it professes to offer 
and what they want. 


138 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


The church year-hook and calendar. 

The printed church calendar and the church year-book 
are the best methods for keeping parishioners informed as 
to what is going on in the church. The year-book, with its 
annual report of the minister, of the treasurer and of the 
secretaries of various church organizations, is practicable 
only in large city churches with a considerable income. It 
is useful as a record and a reference book in the relatively 
few churches which can afford it, but it has only a neg¬ 
ligible advertising value. The weekly or monthly church 
calendar is, however, within the capacity of town and vil¬ 
lage churches with a modest income and is valuable for 
them as well as for city churches. When simple, concise 
and attractively printed, it is worth all it costs. It should 
contain notices of all the parish activities for the week or 
month, and it should be an established policy in the church 
that the minister shall give out no notices from the pulpit 
during the service except in case of emergency. A string 
of notices about all sorts of subjects, some of them trivial 
and some only remotely connected with church work, seri¬ 
ously detracts from the continuity and dignity of worship. 
The reading of such notices is an ineffective and very 
primitive method of publicity, since it reaches only those 
within hearing and often finds them inattentive. It en¬ 
courages people in slipshod habits of sending hastily 
scrawled notes to the pulpit at the last moment, and it is 
liable to abuse, since many people will impose upon the 
good will of the minister to secure a cheap publicity for 
objects which have no legitimate claim upon either him 
or the congregation. These difficulties can be avoided by a 
regular monthly, or better, a weekly calendar, if the min¬ 
ister will require all notices of parish activities to be 
announced therein and will resolutely refuse to read any 
notices from the pulpit, except when some change in the 
announcement already printed makes such action impera¬ 
tive. The calendar has the additional advantage of pro¬ 
viding much better publicity than the spoken notice, since 
it can speak to those absent from church as well as to those 
present; it can answer many questions about which people 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 


139 


must otherwise make inquiry; and it can be edited so as 
to avoid the clumsy phraseology and the inaccuracies char¬ 
acteristic of so many church notices. 

The calendar should be printed each week in time to be 
mailed to all parishioners for delivery on Saturday morn¬ 
ing, or, if printed monthly, for delivery towards the end 
of the week preceding the first Sunday in the month, and 
additional copies should be kept in the pews for the period 
which the calendar covers. Out-of-date calendars should 
invariably be collected and destroyed; not left in the seats 
in a slovenly clutter. Merely to distribute the calendar at 
church instead of sending it through the mails is to lose 
half its value. If mailed it serves as a reminder of the 
church to those who live at some distance, or who are 
inclined to be indifferent, serving to keep the church in 
remembrance. One-cent envelopes can be used if a dis¬ 
tinctive wording or device on the envelope clearly indi¬ 
cates that it comes from the church, so that it will not be 
thrown into the scrap basket, unopened, as advertising 
matter. The addressing of the envelopes will be simplified 
by the use of an addressograph. The minister should have 
general supervision of the calendar, and the final decision 
as to what should be included therein, but the work of 
editing and circulating it should be taken off his shoulders 
by a competent office secretary, or by a publicity com¬ 
mittee or an individual layman of experience in such 
matters. The first page of the calendar should always 
include the official name of the church, its location (street 
and town), and the minister’s name, address, and telephone 
number. An attractive picture of the church, or of some 
part thereof, is also highly desirable, since four people will 
pick up and examine an illustrated leaflet to one who 
will look at plain printed matter. The second page should 
contain information as to services of worship; the third 
page, general parish notices; the fourth page, the names 
and addresses of the church officers, and of the organist 
and sexton, including the telephone numbers of the last 
two. A uniform style of print and paper should be 
adopted and adhered to, distinctive but not bizarre, with 
a type as clear and easily read as possible. If left to his 


140 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


own devices many a printer will produce grotesque effects 
by using half a dozen different fonts of type on a single 
page. 

Bulletin boards. 

The calendar and year-book are chiefly valuable as a 
means of keeping contact with persons already connected 
with a church, or, at least, already interested in some 
measure. They are almost valueless in attracting the 
attention of others. The bulletin board, outside the church, 
however, (as distinguished from a notice board inside the 
church vestibule), is an appeal to the passer-by. Its pri¬ 
mary function is to inform the public as to the identity of 
the church and the hours of public worship. This was un¬ 
necessary in small, long-settled, slow-moving communities, 
where practically everyone attended some church within 
easy walking distance of his home, but it is essential in any 
growing city or town. No parish committee ought ever to 
assume that its church is so long-established and so promi¬ 
nent that everybody knows all about it. The writer well 
recalls a conversation with a committee of the First Church 
in an old New England town which had developed into a 
thriving little city with a fine college. The handsome old 
church stood in a green, well back from the main street, 
without a sign of any sort to indicate what it was or 
whether services were ever held therein. To the suggestion 
that a bulletin board near the sidewalk would be useful, the 
committee replied that it was quite unnecessary because 
everybody in town knew all about the First Church. All 
the old families probably did, but it was safe to say that 
four persons out of five who passed that church were 
either recent settlers in town, or college students from a 
distance to whom the First Church meant nothing whatso¬ 
ever. It is true that Roman Catholics place no boards out¬ 
side their churches, not even to give the name of the church 
and that of its rector, but a Roman church is usually easy 
to identify by its architecture, and it has its own ways of 
keeping touch with its constituents. No Protestant church, 
however, even if it is the only one in the village, should be 
without a bulletin board, giving at least the name of the 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 


141 


church and the hours of service. The addition of the name 
of the minister is ordinarily desirable. A board so far 
from the sidewalk, or with such small lettering as not to be 
legible by the passer-by, is almost useless. It is not suffi¬ 
cient that the information should be available for the per¬ 
son who takes the trouble to stop and hunt for it. The 
wording on the bulletin board should be of such character 
that the passer-by cannot help seeing it—so clear and 
simple that he who runs may read it at one glance. There¬ 
fore it must be near the sidewalk, on posts if the wall of 
the church is set back from the street more than ten or 
fifteen feet; it must be sufficiently elevated to be seen over 
the heads of others, but not so high as to require much 
raising of the eyes; it must carry no more wording than 
is essential, and that in letters large enough to be read by 
good eyes across a street of moderate width; the lettering 
must stand out from the background, either of the board 
itself or of the church wall, with sufficient distinctness to 
catch the eye of the passer, especially if the church be 
located on a busy city street with its countless other dis¬ 
tractions. There are innumerable varieties of bulletin 
boards—the old-fashioned black sanded board with small 
gold letters; the yellow varnished board with red or black 
painted letters, which came next; the commercial boards 
with glazed cover and movable metal letters, white on black 
or black on white; boards to which cardboard sheets with 
painted notices can be attached. The old-fashioned ones 
were generally ineffective; the modern ones are often ugly 
and inartistic. The best compromise is probably a bulletin 
board designed by the architect of the church, with the 
standing information painted on the frame, and glass 
covered spaces for standard-sized advertising cards to be 
inserted week by week, to give current information. Gold 
letters on black, or black on natural wood, are much less 
visible than white on black, while black letters on a white 
ground most readily catch the eye. On artistic grounds 
there may be objections to a square of white against the 
stone or brick wall of the church, but the eye of the passer 
will instinctively turn to that white spot, and will read 
what is printed thereon if the lettering is clear and simple 


142 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


and the notice no longer than the four or five words which 
the eye ordinarily seizes at a glance. More than that 
requires conscious prolongation of the attention, so that to 
crowd the board with information is to diminish the chances 
of its being read by the quick passer-by. 

Newspaper notices. 

Another familiar method of church advertising is the 
church-notice column in the Saturday night or Sunday 
morning papers. Most churches in towns and cities use 
this form of publicity, not so much for the information of 
their own constituents as for the outside public, the floating 
and unchurched population. Formerly it was the custom 
for each church to buy such space as it could afford and 
to put in its own notice, whether in the form of a simple 
statement as to the hours of service and name of the min¬ 
ister, or more detailed information as to the sermon topic 
and the music to be rendered, ending with a general invita¬ 
tion to all and sundry. The present tendency is for all the 
churches in a town, or, in large cities, all the churches of 
a given denomination, to unite in buying space which is 
then apportioned among them. Such cooperative adver¬ 
tising is more economical. 

It is a common modern practice for the minister to adver¬ 
tise the subject of his sermon in the church calendar, in 
the press and on the bulletin board. Advertising experts 
recommend this practice, and it is possible that some per¬ 
sons are drawn to church by their desire to hear this or 
that topic discussed. The practice is also defended on the 
ground that many regular parishioners who may be unable 
to come every Sunday like to know what the minister is to 
talk about and will make an especial effort to get out when 
subjects of interest to them are announced. In spite of 
this prevalent practice in most Protestant churches, the 
writer believes it to be psychologically false. So good a 
student of popular psychology as Henry Ward Beecher 
would never advertise his sermon topics. To do so places 
an undue emphasis on the preacher and his message. The 
fundamental purpose of a church service is the worship of 
Almighty God, and the personality of the preacher ought 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 


143 


to be subordinated to that end. The minister is not in the 
position of a lecturer, who draws only by virtue of his 
ability to please or entertain, or by interest in his subject. 
Advertising of sermon subjects tends to the development of 
the bad habit of looking down the column of service an¬ 
nouncements on Sunday morning to see what attractions 
are announced, as one might scan the theater column on a 
Saturday evening. It encourages church vagrants, who go 
from church to church, according to the music and preach¬ 
ing offered. That is not the way to build up a stable con¬ 
gregation. It is noteworthy that the Roman Catholic 
churches very seldom advertise the preacher, or the sermon 
topic, except for special occasions, such as 1 ‘missions. 7 ’ 
Most Protestant Episcopal churches are also very reticent 
in such advertising. But both the Roman Catholic and the 
Protestant Episcopal churches have, at least in many dio¬ 
ceses, a very efficient publicity service which keeps the 
newspapers supplied with a constant stream of informa¬ 
tion as to church happenings. Furthermore, the adver¬ 
tising of sermon subjects often tends to sensationalism. 
Many great sermon topics do not readily lend themselves 
to titles which will attract attention, and, on the other 
hand, the minister is always tempted to put too much 
thought into phrasing a catchy title, startling or allitera¬ 
tive, and not enough thought into the sermon itself. There 
is also the danger of unintended effect. A well known 
church in Boston a few years ago startled passers-by by 
announcing: 

Morning Service: Hell and Who Will Be There. 

Evening Service: Lord, Send Me. 

Another church is said to have proclaimed the following: 

Morning Service: The Pastor Will Preach. 

Evening Service: What the Fool Said. 

The real trouble with sensational preaching is its tend¬ 
ency to sink to trivial and unworthy subjects instead of 
dealing with the great problems of religious life and 
thought. The sermon subjects announced by some minis- 


144 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


ters give superabundant evidence of this. There is the 
minister who, during the baseball season, preaches on 
* ‘ Play Ball! ’’ Another announces ‘ ‘ Hobble Skirts ’’ as his 
topic; another, * ‘ Simon Says ‘ Thumbs Up! ’ ”; another, 
“Good-by, God, I’ve Gone to California.” A local news¬ 
paper in New England a few years ago published the 
following item: 

1 ‘The program for the evening [at a certain church] in¬ 
cluded the usual enthusiastic song service, a trombone solo 

by- ? and a short address by the pastor on ‘Blowing 

Your Own Horn.’ [Presumably a delicate tribute to the 
trombone soloist!] Next Sunday the pastor speaks on the 
subject—the fourth in the series on the Sermon On The 
Mount—‘I Should Worry.’ ” 

Could anything short of actual blasphemy do more to 
debase the beauty and dignity of religion, or more effec¬ 
tively turn people of intelligence and of reverent spirit 
away from the church ? 

A similar criticism applies to most advertisements of 
church music. It is appropriate to include in the calendar 
information as to the music to be used in the order of wor¬ 
ship, since many of the congregation like to have the words 
of the anthem before them or to be able to identify a 
familiar chant or organ prelude. But detailed advertising 
of the “musical program,” including the names of the 
singers, whether in the press or on the bulletin board, is 
again psychologically false, so far as the usual Sunday 
service is concerned. The people who are drawn by it 
come as to a free concert, rather than to a house of 
worship, and can seldom be built into the body of the 
church. While such advertising may draw a crowd, it 
is very questionable whether it will ever form a congre¬ 
gation. 

Advertising the minister. 

The experts on commercial advertising often urge the 
necessity of advertising the minister for the sake of his 
church. If the minister be a striking personality he may, 
indeed, find it impossible to keep himself out of the public 
print, but the practice of deliberately exploiting him as 



CHURCH ADVERTISING 


145 


part of the advertising campaign of his church is to be 
condemned as highly objectionable. The tendency of some 
Protestant ministers to make use of the press in advertising 
themselves produces numerous gross instances of unpro¬ 
fessional conduct. The accepted codes of ethics in law and 
medicine forbid the lawyer or the doctor to advertise, or 
to procure for themselves, either directly or indirectly, any 
publicity eulogizing their professional achievements. The 
ministry greatly needs a similar rule. 

There is, of course, a legitimate use of the press in giving 
public information as to the activities of a given church, 
and the minister’s name cannot be altogether excluded 
from such press reports, whether in the daily papers or in 
denominational weeklies. The minister should always re¬ 
member, however, that the purpose of such reports is not 
to advertise himself but to give the public needed informa¬ 
tion about the church. If he prepares the reports himself 
he should not mention himself unless the situation requires 
it, and should then limit himself to a plain statement of 
facts, unembellished by laudatory comments. If the 
reports are prepared by others he should require them to 
obey the same rule. In every case the publicity is to be 
sought for the church, and not for the man. 

It is legitimate for the minister to furnish information 
about himself to the press on occasions when the public is 
entitled to it—as when he accepts a call to, or resigns from 
a given parish. Often he alone can state the facts accu¬ 
rately, and in such instances he should give the papers a 
clear, concise statement, in writing, of the outstanding 
facts of his career, but without embellishment, and without 
headlines, which the editors will write in any case. It is 
not unprofessional for him also to furnish a photograph if 
asked for it. In theory such action is open to objection, 
but in practice it is a mode of self-protection, since if he 
does not furnish the desired material some unscrupulous 
paper is liable to invent a career for him and to “fake” a 
photograph. 

It is not unprofessional for the minister from time to 
time to send to the press a summary of his own sermons, 
either by request or on his own initiative, when they deal 


146 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


with topics of genuine public interest, or matters to which 
public attention may properly be called, but he should be 
scrupulous in not demanding more than his fair share of 
newspaper space. It is better for him to make his own 
summary of his sermon than to trust to a reporter, but 
the minister must not introduce any laudatory remarks 
about himself. Similarly, he may give an interview to the 
press if requested to do so, on some subject of public policy 
or morals, or he may write letters to the press as a means 
of influencing public opinion. But he will do well to insist 
that the interview be written out and approved by him 
before publication; he must be careful in the case of con¬ 
troversial topics to make it clear that he is expressing only 
a personal opinion, and is not speaking for his church as a 
whole where he has no right thus to speak; he should 
beware of overestimating or of undermining his influence 
by too frequent interviews or published letters; and he 
must never use interviews or letters merely as a means of 
keeping himself before the public. 

While the use of the press in the foregoing ways is legiti¬ 
mate, the minister must always remember that its sole 
justification is the interest of his church or of some cause 
of public morality—never the exploitation of his person¬ 
ality or the spread of his own fame. For himself he may 
11 not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the 
street.’’ His best work is done noiselessly, without the 
slightest regard to public fame. He should dread praise 
more than blame. Therefore, it is unprofessional for him 
to seek newspaper publicity on any and every possible 
occasion. If, for instance, he is to speak at some church 
convention, he should not send press notices and photo¬ 
graphs of himself in advance to the newspapers of the city 
in which the convention is to be held. The publicity for 
such occasions is usually in the hands of a denominational 
or local publicity agent, and the individual minister should 
provide the press with no information about himself save 
at the request of the authorized agent. If any distinction 
comes to him—an honorary degree, an invitation to occupy 
a famous pulpit—it is improper for him to seize the oppor¬ 
tunity to 4 ‘write up a story” about himself for the news- 


CHURCH ADVERTISING 


147 


paper in his home town, that he may be thereby glorified. 
Still worse is it for him to invent ‘‘news” about himself— 
to spread a rumor that he is about to be called to, or has 
refused a call from this or that conspicuous pulpit, when 
in fact the call has not been given him. 

It is a gross breach of ethics for the minister to write up 
anonymous ‘ ‘ puffs ’ ’ about himself, intended to advance his 
professional reputation. An instance of such ethical blind¬ 
ness occurred a few years ago in one of our large cities. A 
certain clergyman greatly desired to be elected bishop of a 
neighboring diocese. He was one of the prominent candi¬ 
dates for the position, but was opposed by many church 
people on the ground of the heterodoxy of his opinions. He 
had had occasion from time to time to write unsigned edito¬ 
rials for the leading local newspaper, which was entirely 
legitimate, but on this occasion he wrote an editorial 
strongly commending himself for the bishopric and defend¬ 
ing his own orthodoxy, and took it to the city editor with 
the request that he publish it. * The editor was not a church 
member, but he had his own standards of ethics and was 
profoundly shocked at the immorality of the proceeding, 
and quite properly refused to use the editorial. The cler¬ 
gyman did not attain the desired honor. More naive, but 
equally disgraceful ways of obtaining personal notoriety 
appear from time to time in the papers. A few years ago 
an item was widely published in the daily press in which 
a certain minister publicly boasted of his own ‘ ‘ press-agent 
stunts.’’ Among other things he told of how a nine-year- 
old boy had fallen off a pier into a certain lake and of how 
he himself had then rushed into the water, a little above his 
knees, dragged the boy out, and had permitted the news¬ 
papers to “write it up” as a thrilling rescue, thus attract¬ 
ing attention to himself and to his church! This parson 
obviously missed his vocation. He should have been a hero 
of the “movies.” More recently we were informed by the 

press that ‘ ‘ the Rev.-, pastor of a church in-, 

ate twenty-three pancakes at a pancake supper and thus 
vanquished Mrs.-, president of the Ladies’ Aid Soci¬ 

ety, who, even for the sake of the building fund, could only 
swallow twenty. Thus lively interest in the church work 





148 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


was awakened in-and more than $25 was added to 

the fund!” 

Men who have no more appreciation than this of the 
honor and dignity of a minister in the Church of Christ 
ought to be promptly deposed. Happily they are few in 
number. 

The publicity committee. 

To secure effective publicity the work should be in the 
hands of an experienced individual, or of a working com¬ 
mittee. The minister should not be expected to serve as 
publicity agent for his own church, though he should be a 
member of the committee, or be in constant touch with the 
individual agent. The responsible agent or committee 
should have charge of the calendar, press notices and bul¬ 
letin board, and ought to confer with the minister each 
week as to procedure. To be effective, publicity must be 
worked out in ample season. Timeliness is of prime im¬ 
portance. If, for example, a given church is planning to 
hold a series of special afternoon or evening services, it 
should not wait until the last moment before making its 
announcements. Weeks of preparation are often necessary. 
The announcements must be formulated and printed, mail¬ 
ing lists revised, and ‘ ‘ copy ’ ’ prepared for the press. This 
should all be done well in advance, so that the information 
may be released in time for it to filter into the consciousness 
of the public. It should also be remembered that reitera¬ 
tion is one of the great secrets of advertising. Most people 
will pay little attention to the first notice unless it be about 
something in which they are already interested. They 
need to have the matter brought to their attention several 
times, and in different ways. 

In making use of the press the minister, or the respon¬ 
sible publicity agent of the church, should always cultivate 
acquaintanceship with the editors, particularly the city 
editors, of the local newspapers. He will generally find 
them friendly and ready to cooperate if he proves consider¬ 
ate of them. That consideration should show itself in the 
following ways. He must not be greedy in asking for too 
much space; he must not expect them to send for news on 



CHURCH ADVERTISING 


149 


the mere chance of getting some, but must send to them in 
good season what he wants printed, clearly typewritten, 
double-spaced, on one side of the paper only; he must not 
expect them to print everything he sends—they can use it 
only if it is real “news’’ dealing with matters of public 
interest, and when it is not crowded out by other, and 
what the editor deems to be more important, news. It will 
often pay the minister to telephone to the city editor a 
couple of days in advance, to say that a sermon or address 
on such and such a topic is to be given, and to ask if the 
paper would not like a report of it, delivered for release 
at a given hour. Finally, he must leave to the editor his 
recognized right of writing the headlines. Very often they 
will not be what the minister would have chosen; they 
may seriously distort his meaning, but that is one of the 
perils of publicity. He must be content if the paper prints 
unchanged, or but little abbreviated, the summary which 
he has prepared. That, at least, will be more accurate than 
the hasty notes of a “cub” reporter, unfamiliar with the 
whole subject. 

The advertisement of a loyal congregation. 

After all, the very best church advertising is that done 
by the whole congregation when it is enthusiastic over its 
church, and proud of what it stands for in the community. 
Nobody wants to join a church for which its members are 
always apologizing, for whose minister they are making 
excuses, in which they do not like to acknowledge member¬ 
ship. It is told of a certain New York church which, a 
good many years ago, called a new minister, that a critic 
said to one of the trustees, “Well, I don’t think your new 
minister is a great preacher!” “No,” was the reply, “not 
yet; but we are going to make him a great preacher.” 
And they did, by their loyal and enthusiastic support. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE CHURCH AND THE STRANGER 

The church and the stranger. 

Criticism of the church for its coldness toward strangers, 
especially when they are poorly clad or unprepossessing in 
appearance, is no new thing. Indeed it is almost as old as 
Christianity itself, for in the Epistle of James we read, 
“My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ 
. . . with respect of persons. For if there come into your 
synagogue a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and 
there come in also a poor man in vile clothing; and ye have 
regard to him that weareth the fine clothing, and say, Sit 
thou here in a good place; and ye say to the poor man, 
Stand thou there, or sit under my footstool; are ye not 
divided in your own mind, and become judges with evil 
thoughts V 91 Evidently in the apostolic church the prac¬ 
tice had already arisen of showing the more presentable 
members of the congregation to the front pews. Such dis¬ 
crimination has always been disapproved by the better 
mind of the church as being contrary to the spirit of Christ, 
even in those periods when the church has been most 
inclined to a weak compliance with worldliness. 

So far as hospitality to the stranger is concerned, both 
the Roman Catholic and the Eastern churches have usually 
been more free from just ground for criticism than most 
of the Protestant churches. In the Russian Church, for 
example, there are no seats, except perhaps little stools for 
the infirm and aged, and in the pre-Revolutionary days 
princes and peasants, clerks and great ladies stood or knelt 
throughout the Divine Liturgy, side by side, without the 
slightest discrimination on account of rank, wealth or occu- 
1 James ii, 1-4. 


150 


THE CHURCH AND THE STRANGER 151 


pation. The only concession was a slight railing enclosing 
a small space for members of the imperial family. The 
Roman Church has also held, at least in theory, to the 
equality of all men in the sight of God. 2 

The practice of some Protestant churches offers a painful 
contrast. Many an old Anglican church has its squire’s 
pew, comfortably fitted up for the occupancy of the patron 
of the living. And one of the worst features of a proprie¬ 
tary church, or of rented pews, is the almost inevitable 
tendency for the pew owner or renter to claim exclusive 
right of occupancy, even to the point of ejecting the 
stranger who unwittingly trespasses upon his preserve. 

In recent days there have been a number of cases in our 
larger cities in which investigators have dressed themselves 
rather shabbily and gone the rounds of the better-known 
churches of the community to see to what extent they are 
following the apostolic injunction, writing up their find¬ 
ings as newspaper stories. Generally they report a cour¬ 
teous reception. But every church needs constantly to bear 
in mind the question of its attitude towards the stranger. 
The ideal ought to be that laid down in the Rule of St. 
Benedict for the reception of strangers at the monastery: 
“All guests shall be received as though they were Christ 
himself, for he himself said, ‘I was a stranger and ye took 
me in.’ Chiefly in the reception of poor and of pilgrims 
shall care be most anxiously exhibited, for in them is Christ 
received the more. ’ ’ 3 

Hospitality to the stranger is fundamentally dependent 
upon the spirit of the congregation, all the members of 
which should remember that though the church building 
may be theirs in a legal sense, it is also, and in a larger 
sense, the house of God, in which no human soul should be 
a stranger. Every visitor should therefore be thought of 
as the guest of the- church, and made welcome as such. A 
very few acts of rudeness will give a church a bad name, 
whereas the habit of simple courtesy will bring it a reputa¬ 
tion for friendliness. 

’Gregory, “Regulse Pastoralis Liber ,” Part II, Chap. VI. 

* Rule of St. Benedict, Section 53, trans. E. F. Henderson. 


152 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


Reception of strangers. 

It is not enough, however, that the congregation should 
mean well. In a well organized parish good intentions 
must find definite channels of expression. The stranger at 
the door should be met by a competent and courteous 
usher and shown as promptly as possible to a seat. It is 
far better for the young laymen of the parish to serve as 
ushers, each on a given Sunday in the month, under the 
direction of a head usher who is responsible for the over¬ 
sight of this work, than for the parish to depend upon a 
paid sexton who is humanly liable to be obsequious to his 
employers—the parishioners—and rude to strangers. 
Furthermore, the stranger is more likely to feel that he is 
welcome if he is met at the door by a member of the church, 
family instead of by a paid employee. Ushering is one of 
the best ways in which a young man can make his contribu¬ 
tion of personal service to the church, and it is better to 
leave the sexton free to attend to his duties as caretaker, 
such as ringing the bell, supervising the furnace, and open¬ 
ing or shutting the windows. In a church in which pews 
are owned or rented, and must therefore be reserved, at 
least until the hour of service, a reasonable number of good 
pews should be kept in the hands of the parish for the use 
of visitors so that they may not be kept waiting at the 
church door, perhaps for many minutes, while the church 
members pass in to their seats. Nothing so quickly per¬ 
suades the stranger that he is not wanted as to be kept 
waiting unnecessarily. If the service has begun the usher 
should give the visitor, as he is seated, a service book open' 
at the right place. At the close of worship the ushers can 
often with advantage speak to the visitors whom they have 
seated, inviting them to come again. 

The hospitality committee. 

Besides the corps of ushers there should be a formally 
appointed committee on hospitality, including both men 
and middle-aged or elderly women, the number dependent 
upon the size and location of the parish. The members of 
this committee, which may well include some of the ushers, 


THE CHURCH AND THE STRANGER 153 


should be selected from regular attendants at church, 
chosen for their ability to approach strangers easily and 
pleasantly. Their first duty is to speak to visitors after 
the service—nothing more than a brief pleasant word to 
the entire stranger, unless he or she evinces a desire for 
further acquaintance. Frequently the stranger desires to 
go out quickly without being stopped, and nothing will so 
deter such a visitor from returning to the church as to be 
set upon by several persons eager to shake his hand and to 
exact from him a promise to appear again the next Sunday. 
A friendly nod and a “Glad to see you; hope you’ll come 
again,” from one person is enough unless the visitor evi¬ 
dently desires further converse. If he comes a second or 
third time, a member of the committee on hospitality may 
ask if he would not like to meet the minister, or may talk 
with him about becoming a regular attendant. When that 
stage has been reached the second duty of the hospitality 
committee is to see that the newcomer and his family are 
called upon at their house, not simply by the minister or 
the parish assistant, but by one or more of the laymen or 
women of the church. This is particularly important in 
the case of strangers in the community, with few or 
no social contacts, for whom the social life of the church 
may offer a valued outlet from loneliness and isolation. 
It is important, however, that such calling should be 
done by more than one person, and by such as through 
common tastes and interests or proximity of habitation 
are most likely to offer congenial friendship. Such call¬ 
ing should also, of course, be done promptly in the case 
of newcomers who bring letters and intend to join the 
parish. 

The minister at the door. 

There is another form of church hospitality, now much 
in vogue, but of doubtful value; namely, the practice of 
the minister going to the door to shake hands with the 
people as they pass out. This practice is approved by 
many persons, perhaps desired by many congregations, yet 
it seems to rest upon a mistaken theory. It savors too 
much of the professional “glad hand.” From the point 


154 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


of view of the minister it is not a natural proceeding. It 
emphasizes his personality and carries the implication that 
the congregation have been his guests to whom he is saying 
farewell. If he does that why should he not also be at the 
door to greet them on entering? Some months ago, one 
pleasant spring Sunday, I passed a well known city church 
about fifteen minutes before the hour of service. There 
stood the rector just outside the door, in cassock and 
biretta, with a smile and a handshake for everyone coming 
up the steps. I do not know whether that is his practice 
each week, or whether he merely happened to be there that 
morning, but his action, save for his genial smile, bore an 
uncomfortable resemblance to that of a certain type of 
undertaker who acts as it were on behalf of the corpse in 
welcoming those who come to the funeral. After all, the 
church service is not the minister’s party. It is not his 
function to welcome the coming or to speed the parting 
guest. The ushers and the hospitality committee, on behalf 
of the congregation, should do whatever is necessary in that 
line. If people want to speak to the minister they should 
come forward to do so. After prayer and sermon he ought 
not to be in any mood for the “glad hand” and the mere 
chatter. Happy is he if the pulpit be so arranged that he 
can go from it directly into the vestry, either making his 
exit with a recessional hymn or otherwise. He should be 
permitted a few moments of quiet, alone, in which to 
remove his gown, or such other vestments as he may wear. 
From his point of view the ideal thing would be to slip 
away without being obliged to talk to people, but he must 
realize that often there will be people who have something 
to say to him, members of his own congregation, or visitors. 
For their sakes he must reappear at the vestry door, or 
meet them at the foot of the pulpit stairs, for it is their 
right to speak with him if they will. But it is unnecessary 
and undignified for him to rush down the main aisle to the 
door that none may escape his handshake. 

The obligations of the visitor. 

The stranger should remember that he owes something to 
the church which he visits. If he expects to be treated 


THE CHURCH AND THE STRANGER 155 


courteously as a guest he must act the part. If the ushers 
may not bid him stand in yon corner because he is poorly 
clad, he at least owes it to his hosts and to himself that he 
should make himself as presentable as his condition per¬ 
mits. If he be placed in a good seat he must behave with 
decorum, rising with the congregation when they stand, 
and taking part in the service so far as he is able, in 
nothing giving offense. He has no just ground to complain 
of the coldness of the congregation if he does not meet the 
friendly advances of the hospitality committee halfway, for 
after all, there is no reason why he should expect to be 
singled out for especial attention. If he comes repeatedly 
he should expect to assume his share of financial and other 
responsibility for the church, so far as he is able, that he 
may give as well as receive. The story is told of a certain 
man who became a regular attendant at a “free church,” 
that is, one in which the pews were neither owned nor 
rented, but were open to the firsteomer at service. He was 
in due time approached by the treasurer with an invitation 
to subscribe, but he refused with indignation, saying, “I 
came here because I understood that this was a free 
church! ’ ’ One wonders how he supposed the salaries and 
the coal bills were paid. 

The visitor should remember also that the regular con¬ 
gregation do have certain rights, both legally and morally, 
because they or their predecessors built the church and pay 
for its maintenance. They have the right to reserve the 
church for their exclusive use on special occasions, admit¬ 
ting by ticket only, as on some anniversary, or when they 
have secured a noted speaker. Some church visitors are 
little more than “religious tramps,” who go about from 
church to church as fancy dictates or church advertisements 
draw them. They are often spiritual paupers, receiving 
much but giving little or nothing. Well-known churches, 
especially in large cities, are often flooded with such per¬ 
sons at Christmas and Easter, to the discomfort of the 
regular parishioners. The stranger on such occasions has 
no just cause for complaint if the seats are reserved for 
the habitual attendants up to within a few minutes of the 
time set for the beginning of the service. The remedy is 


156 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


in his own hands. Let him also become a member of the 
church of his choice, and by assuming the duties and 
responsibilities of church membership gain also the full 
rights and privileges thereof. 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 1 

The moral standards of the minister. 

The ethical standards of the minister do not differ, in 
principle, from those of any other honorable man in the 
community. There is not one code of morals for the 
Christian layman and another for the minister. Any action 
which is immoral for one is also immoral for the other. 
But the minister’s conduct is affected by three considera¬ 
tions which do not concern the layman—the community 
rightly expects of him a closer adherence to high standards; 
certain courses of conduct, not necessarily wrong in 
themselves, are commonly felt to be unbecoming in a min¬ 
ister; and his relations with his professional brethren 
present certain problems in ethics or etiquette which do 
not confront persons in other occupations. 

The community expects of the minister a higher standard 
of conduct than it does of the layman because the minister 
has openly devoted himself to the ideals of the Christian 
life, and may properly be required to practice, so far as 
the grace of God permits, what he preaches. Moral weak¬ 
nesses which men of the world are prone to consider mere 
peccadillos, easily excusable, become in the minister grave 
faults, indicating his unfitness for his profession. His good 
repute is essential to his ministerial status; an unblem¬ 
ished character is the first requirement for his entrance 
into and his continuance in the ministry. 

Some people base their expectations as to the minister’s 
conduct upon a false theory. They seem to suppose that 
just because a man has gone into the ministry he is no 
longer subject to the temptations of the world, the flesh, 
and the devil. Now there are various theories of ordina¬ 
nce also the sections on “Advertising the Minister ,” Chap. XII, 
pp. 144-148, and on “Confidential Communications ,’’ Chap. II, 
pp. 26-27. 


157 


158 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


tion, but none of them ascribes to it any such sacramental 
grace as automatically to free the recipient from all 
capacity to sin. The plain fact is that the minister is the 
same man after ordination that he was before, so far as 
his personal character is concerned, save that he has the 
added strength which comes from avowed self-devotion to 
the work of God. He is just as fallible in judgment; just 
as liable to moral error; just as much in need of the grace 
of God to uphold him. A minister of my acquaintance 
happened to overhear a couple of mechanics discussing the 
ministry as they repaired a motor car. ‘‘Well,’ 5 said one 
of them, “a minister ought to be a perfect man.” The 
ideal minister is, indeed, the one who most nearly ap¬ 
proaches the Christian ideal of perfection, but no one 
knows better than the minister himself how far beyond him 
that ideal is. He is continually aware of his weakness and 
his limitations, of his own sins and shortcomings. As he 
comes to understand what is expected of him his cry is, 
“Who is sufficient for these things?” 

The prime moral requisite in the minister is integrity— 
that his life shall be all of one piece. His inner life must 
be in accord with his outer life, else he is a religious hypo¬ 
crite, one of the worst things a minister can be. There 
must be in the minister a “harmony of thought and word 
and deed ... so that what we preach with our lips we 
shall eagerly and unceasingly strive to carry out in our 
lives. ’ ’ 2 That moral quality of integrity of life is essential 
in any religious leader if he is to hold the respect of the 
world. His outward act must be the genuine expression of 
his inner life, and both must be of the same pattern as the 
precepts which he proclaims from the pulpit. He must be 
like Chaucer’s Parson,— 

“A bettre preest I trowe there nowher non is 
He waytud after no pompe nor reverence, 

Ne maked him a spiced conscience, 

But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve, 

He taught, and ferst he folwed it himselve.” * 

3 Bull, * * Preaching, * * p. 74. 

811 Canterbury Tales ,’’ Prologue. 


ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 159 


This integrity of life will manifest itself in various ways. 
In financial matters he must be scrupulously careful not 
only to avoid debt, but to conform to the strictest standards 
of honesty. Not infrequently some minister shocks busi¬ 
ness men by getting into a financial tangle through sheer 
ignorance of the ethics of the business world. The wise 
minister will refrain from any attempt to make money on 
the side, because where his treasure is there will his heart 
be also. He will be careful not to lend his name or endorse¬ 
ment to business ventures. He will not attempt to take 
care of the money of other people, except that of his imme¬ 
diate family, but will refer them to conscientious and 
sagacious business advisers. If he has money of his own 
to invest he will seek such advisers for himself, avoiding 
those financial adventurers who are ever on the lookout to 
fleece the unwary by promises of a large return from a 
small investment. He will not lend money to his own pa¬ 
rishioners in larger sums than he can afford to lose, since 
he is in a position in which he is practically prevented 
by professional considerations from bringing suit or 
foreclosing a mortgage to recover his loan if the debtor 
defers or refuses payment. He will try to gain insight 
into the ethical problems confronting business men by 
discussing with his parishioners the questions which 
they are trying to solve, and he will rejoice to discover 
the high idealism and practical wisdom of many such 
men. 

In all relations with women the minister must unfail¬ 
ingly maintain that outward demeanor of courtesy and 
respect which is the genuine expression of an inner chastity 
of soul. Sexual immorality on the part of an ordained 
minister is an absolute disqualification for his continuance 
in the profession, and early irregularities of this sort are 
a grave obstacle to his entrance into it, though not neces¬ 
sarily an insurmountable one if he has given good ground 
for confidence in his reformation. Some great figures in 
the history of Christianity—like St. Augustine of Hippo 
and John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s—have been men 
whose early lives were marred by this failing, though they 
rose from it to later sanctity of life; but modern standards 


160 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


of conduct are in this respect much higher than those of 
the fourth or of the seventeenth century. 

It is a sign of moral weakness for the minister to permit 
himself even the relatively harmless familiarities and liber¬ 
ties which some women allow or encourage. To do so is to 
enter upon a path dangerous to both parties, his own self- 
respect will be weakened, his reputation becomes liable to 
damage. Therefore, he should scrupulously conform to the 
social customs prescribed by good usage in all matters con¬ 
cerning relations with women, even though they seem rather 
rigid and formal in these free and easy days. It is far 
wiser for him to seem too reserved and distant with women 
than too familiar, for it is this kind of familiarity which 
breeds contempt. He should avoid giving any occasion for 
gossip or scandal, which, even when baseless, may com¬ 
pletely undermine his professional usefulness. To that end 
he should not call alone upon young married women when 
their husbands are away from home, nor dance attendance 
upon the young girls of the community, nor receive alone in 
his study or office any woman with whom he is unacquainted 
or about whose character there is the slightest doubt. In 
large cities, especially, the well-known minister is in danger 
of some attempt at blackmail on the part of an adventuress 
who may try to inveigle him into a compromising situation. 
He should therefore always receive women whom he does 
not know in some place where other people are within call; 
his wife or a trustworthy domestic if it be at the parson¬ 
age; the sexton or the parish assistant if it be at the 
church. In the latter place it is prudent to have a hidden 
button at his desk which will ring a bell to summon others 
in case of need. The door should be left ajar, or, if closed, 
the key should be removed so that the door cannot be 
locked. Needless to say, the character of any woman em¬ 
ployed by the church in any capacity should be such as to 
eliminate any possibility of gossip. 

The minister’s best protection, however, against any 
scandal, is his own reputation as a man who has always so 
borne himself that others will believe no evil of him. Mar¬ 
riage is also a great protection, especially if it be well 
known that he is completely devoted to his wife. Protes- 


ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 161 


tant churches generally, and by a sound instinct, prefer a 
married to an unmarried minister, unless the latter be a 
young man who may reasonably be expected soon to take 
a wife to himself. The record of compulsory celibacy is so 
dark a page in Christian history that Protestants believe 
that the moral superiority of a married ministry quite out¬ 
weighs the accompanying disadvantages in the way of less 
efficient discipline and organization, and marvel that the 
Roman Catholic Church has not had the insight to make 
marriage at least permissible to the secular clergy. Mar¬ 
riage does, indeed, involve the minister in cares and duties 
which in a measure distract him from his church work, but 
it also means a much richer experience of life. The right 
sort of wife will double his usefulness—though the wrong 
sort may halve it. 

A third point at which the integrity of the minister 
should be manifest is in his sincerity of utterance. He 
ought to be tactful, but that is not the same as being insin¬ 
cere, for tact consists not in suppressing the truth but in 
knowing when and how to utter it. In the pulpit and out 
of it he must speak what he believes to be the truth, without 
fear or hesitation, but also with all humility and grace, 
not in dogmatic intolerance or in pride of intellect. He 
must never profess to believe what he denies in his heart. 
He must not preach as his own the sermon of another man. 
The ethical standards in this last matter vary somewhat in 
different denominations, but in most Protestant churches 
in this country the charge of plagiarism is regarded as a 
very serious one. Most congregations prefer to hear a 
rather poor sermon which is the genuine expression of their 
minister’s thought and feeling than to have him announce 
that he will read the discourse of another, though it be that 
of a famous preacher. They will, indeed, tolerate the 
latter course upon occasion, but they will not forgive him 
if he passes off that other sermon as his own. Most 
Protestant ministers in this country would view with 
strong disapprobation the advice given by a modern 
English writer, who says,— 

“I do not say that you should never preach another man’s 
sermon. In a time of great pressure of work you may be forced 


162 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


to do so, and to preach another man’s sermon is certainly better 
than to go in utterly unprepared and waste your time, and that 
of the congregation, with mere vapid talk. Though even so, 
unless you are prepared to take a volume of printed sermons 
into the pulpit and read from it, the labor necessary to assimilate 
another man’s sermon and make it sufficiently your own for 
effective delivery may well be as great as that needed for writing 
one of your own. 

“Neither do 1 say that it is necessarily dishonest to preach 
another man’s sermon without acknowledgment. I know some 
clergy say that if you are preaching a borrowed sermon you 
should begin with some such introduction as, ‘Pressure of work 
having prevented my preparing a suitable sermon, I propose 
to-day to give you one by Dr. Liddon,’ or whoever it may be. 
This is a point for each man’s conscience. I have known many 
good men who would have thought it needlessly scrupulous and 
affected to do so. But if you do borrow anything more than a 
hint or suggestion, be careful how you borrow. In this, as in 
all relations of life, a little common sense is a good thing. I once 
heard a clergyman I knew well deliver Newman’s famous sermon 
on Heb. xii. 14 (the first in Yol. I of ‘Parochial and Plain 
Sermons’) to an educated congregation as if it were his own. 
After the service I went into the vestry and said, ‘Do you know 
what you’ve done? You have just delivered the most famous 
sermon in English pulpit literature, as if it were your own.’ 
‘Oh! have I,’ he replied quite undisturbed. ‘I heard it on my 
holidays and it seemed rather good, so I just took a few notes.’ 
He might just as well have delivered Hamlet’s soliloquy as his 
own original composition.” 4 

In all these respects the minister must preserve his in¬ 
tegrity of soul, so that, whatever his intellectual inadequacy 
or his failures of accomplishment, men may at least know 
that they can count upon his character as sound and 
true. 

Conduct unbecoming in a minister. 

There are some other matters of conduct, not necessarily 
involving serious moral weakness, on which the minister is 
judged by stricter standards than the layman. The min¬ 
ister will prejudice his standing if he indulges in 
such frivolous forms of amusement as dancing, cards, 

4 Peter Green, “The Town Parson,” pp. 129-130. Italics mine. 


ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 163 

and, in some communities, the theater, even where they are 
permitted to the laymen and women of his church. In all 
these matters he must he governed by the customs of his 
church, neither unnecessarily giving offense by disregard¬ 
ing public opinion nor slavishly yielding to obscurantist 
prejudice. But if he follows a course counter to public 
opinion he should do so on grounds which he can openly 
defend. 

Similarly he will do well to conform to public expecta¬ 
tion in the matter of dress. If his church expects him to 
wear a clerical garb he had better do so. If not, he should 
so dress as not to cause criticism of his appearance, either 
by copying the attire of a fashionable man of the world or 
by going to the other extreme of a defiant unconventionality 
of dress, or by appearing shabby and unkempt. His clothes 
may be plain, or even threadbare, but not dirty, ragged, or 
odorous, and his person should always be clean and 
pleasant. 5 

In the matter of speech the minister is rightly judged 
by a high standard. Men who are themselves given to pro¬ 
fanity or to broad stories do not want to hear such language 
from the minister’s lips. They will expect him to keep his 
temper when they lose theirs. They find very irritating a 
“proud priest,” who is self-conscious, arrogant, expectant 
that the place of distinction will be reserved for him. They 
are quick to note the self-satisfaction of the minister who 
has attained to fame as a “popular preacher.” 

A hundred years ago drink was a vice into which not a 
few ministers fell, as is still the case in Europe. In 
America this has been increasingly rare in the last half 
century, and today has disappeared with national prohibi¬ 
tion, since not even the minister who wants to drink alco¬ 
holic beverages is willing to violate the law to get them. 
And however ready some members of the community may 
be themselves to patronize the “bootlegger,” they would, 
hardly tolerate a minister who did so. 

The whole matter was summed up long ago in the First 

5 It is worth noting that at least two recent English books on 
clerical life point out that it is a virtue for the priest to shave 
every morning on rising! 


164 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


Epistle to Timothy, wherein it is written of the minister 
that he must be “without reproach, the husband of one 
wife, temperate, sober minded, orderly, given to hospi¬ 
tality, ... no brawler, no striker, but gentle, not conten¬ 
tious, no lover of money; one that ruleth well his own 
house . . not double-tongued, not given to much wine, 
not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith 
in a pure conscience. ’’ 6 

Relations with other ministers. 

In his relations with other ministers there are certain 
standards of conduct which the minister should always 
observe. In the Roman Church and the Protestant Epis¬ 
copal Church these matters are covered in the canon law 
by rules which are the fruit of long experience in dealing 
with causes of friction among the clergy, but in most 
Protestant denominations there are no rules, and good cus¬ 
toms, not being reduced to written form, are too frequently 
neglected. 

In the first place a minister should recognize all other 
ministers, whether in his own or in another communion, as 
members of the same great profession, as colleagues rather 
than as rivals, entitled to full courtesy and brotherly love. 
Therefore, the minister should be scrupulous to avoid 
“sheepstealing.” “Sheepstealing” means trying to get 
the parishioners in another church to transfer their alle¬ 
giance to yours. The minister should no more call profes¬ 
sionally upon members of another church than a physician 
should endeavor to entice away another doctor’s patients. 
The doctor will, of course, give professional aid in an 
emergency to a person who is not his own patient, but he 
must withdraw from the case as soon as it can be handed 
over to the patient’s own physician. So the minister will 
gladly serve in an emergency, but he must not misuse the 
opportunity by keeping up the professional relationship 
after the immediate occasion for it has ceased. He may, 
for example, conduct a wedding or a funeral in a family 
belonging to some other church than his own, in the un¬ 
avoidable absence of their own minister, but he will not 

*1 Tim. iii, 2-4, 8-9. American Revised Version. 


ETHICS OP THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 165 


use the occasion as an opening for alienating them from 
their home church. No minister should take a service in 
another’s church without the latter’s knowledge and con¬ 
sent, for each minister has the sole right to say who shall 
or shall not enter his church to conduct service. The only 
exception to this is when the local minister cannot be 
reached, either because he has traveled far on a vacation 
or is too ill for communication. In such instances an out¬ 
side clergyman may properly conduct such services as can¬ 
not suitably be postponed until the local pastor returns 
or recovers—a funeral—a wedding—a christening when 
there is occasion for prompt action, but he should after¬ 
wards write to the absent minister giving him information 
about the proceeding. When the local pastor is out of 
reach the minister should make certain that the persons 
who desire his services have made application to the proper 
church officers for the use of the church building, or should 
himself secure their consent to his performance of the 
service. He should do this also in the case of such services 
in a church which for the time being has no settled 
minister. 

Cases will frequently arise in which a minister may be 
asked, because of family relationship or other personal ties, 
to take a funeral or a wedding in another minister’s church. 
Before he consents he should ask that the local minister 
be invited to take some part of the service with him. In 
such case the local minister takes precedence in his own 
church, the visitor being there to assist and not to super¬ 
sede him. Therefore it is the right of the local minister to 
prescribe the order of service. If there seems to be ade¬ 
quate reason why the visitor should take the service alone, 
the permission of the local minister must always be first 
obtained. If he is invited to occupy another minister’s 
pulpit as a supply, he is under obligation to follow the 
usual order of service as it is given him, and not to alter 
it or introduce innovations, and he must never make pencil 
marks in the pulpit Bible, service book, or hymn book. If 
he cannot remember the exact passages which he wishes to 
use, let him make the necessary memoranda on a bit of 
paper. 


166 THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 

The relations between the senior minister and his assistmts. 

Probably the most delicate professional contacts in the 
ministry are those of men associated together as senior and 
junior colleagues in a single church. In a Roman Catholic 
or a Protestant Episcopal parish it is common for the 
rector, as head of the clergy staff, to have one or more 
curates working under him. There is, of course, occa¬ 
sional friction between them, but the rector is in a position 
of recognized authority. The curates are generally young 
men, who will soon move on to other positions. Further¬ 
more, the clergy in these churches, being accustomed to 
such relationships, know how to adjust them. The great 
secret is a careful division of labor, entrusting the assistant 
with full responsibility for the particular task assigned him 
and treating him as a partner. 

In many Protestant churches the relationship of senior 
and junior ministers works badly. The trouble comes from 
the fact that most parishes are run on a one-man basis, and 
do not seek a colleague for the minister until the latter is 
advanced in years. He frequently does not know how to 
make use of the younger man, he may be jealous of him, 
knowing that the younger man is bound to increase while 
he must decrease, he is timid about new ways of doing 
old tasks, suspicious of change, and often, though perhaps 
unintentionally, inconsiderate in keeping for himself a 
great part of the preaching, which he enjoys, while expect¬ 
ing the younger man to do the necessary chores for an in¬ 
definite number of years. Many an older minister is very 
inconsiderate in this matter of keeping in his own hands 
the great bulk of the preaching, allowing the junior partner 
to preach only on occasions when the congregation is likely 
to be small, or requesting him to be ready to preach at a 
moment’s notice in case the senior minister does not happen 
to feel in the mood for preaching when the hour comes. 
The senior minister, whether he have an assistant or an 
associate minister, should give his colleague a fair show by 
leaving him free to work out his own methods in the field 
assigned him, offering suggestions rather than orders as to 
procedure; he should be moderate in his expectations and 


ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 167 


generous in his appreciation; he should recognize his junior 
as a partner in a common enterprise rather than as a sub¬ 
ordinate, and should talk over his own plans with him, so 
that the junior partner will not be put in the humiliating 
situation of learning from others about important develop¬ 
ments in the church program. 

The junior associate on his part is liable to be bumptious 
and impatient, eager to introduce innovations, and, in his 
turn, inconsiderate of his senior colleague’s old-fashioned 
ways. Friction between the two can be avoided only by 
mutual sympathy and understanding, but the chances of it 
will be much diminished if a division of duties be, at the 
very beginning, clearly defined, and thereafter carefully 
adhered to, each partner being fully responsible in his own 
field. Such division should include a fixed apportionment 
of the preaching appointments, which often can better be 
made by the governing board of the church than by the 
senior minister. 

Relations with predecessors and successors. 

Another occasion of friction and heartburning arises out 
of the relationship between a minister and his predecessor 
or successor. A minister who has served a parish for years 
often finds it very hard to let go, even if he realizes that 
the time has come for him to do so. It is hard for him to 
move out of the rectory or parsonage in which he has lived; 
he views with doubt or disapproval the changes which his 
successor is certain to introduce; and he is liable to become 
a center of criticism very embarrassing for the new man. 
Furthermore, if he continues to live in the community his 
old parishioners are certain to call upon him for many 
occasional offices—christenings, weddings, and funerals. 
The minister who resigns in order to take another parish, 
usually in another city, avoids these causes of friction, save 
the last mentioned. If he is called back to his old church for 
a marriage or a funeral professional courtesy requires him 
to treat his successor as he would any brother minister in 
another church. If he resigns with the expectation of re¬ 
tiring from the active ministry he should evacuate the par¬ 
sonage when his resignation takes effect, or as soon there- 


168 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


after as possible, if illness or other exceptional circum¬ 
stance makes prompt removal impossible, that the house 
may be made ready for his successor. Thus to seek a new 
home is often painful to an old man, but it is no more than 
just to his successor. If he desires to remain in the com¬ 
munity which has long been his home he should at least 
remove to another part of the town, and it is a good plan 
for him to absent himself on some prolonged visit while his 
successor is establishing himself. In any case, even if he 
retains an honorary connection with the church as pastor 
emeritus, he should be scrupulously careful to support his 
successor in every way possible, to keep his hands off the 
church, to refrain from criticism, and to discourage those 
of his former parishioners who may run to him with 
complaints. 

The newcomer, on his part, has his obligations to his 
predecessor. He should not be hasty in introducing 
changes, he should not criticize the old-fashioned ways or 
the obvious failings of his predecessor, he should be punc¬ 
tilious in courtesy to him. He must be generous in recog¬ 
nizing the affection in which his parishioners hold the 
older man, and gladly assent to their calling upon him 
for occasional services. If the retired minister continues 
to live in town and it pleases him to take part in the 
Sunday services, or his parishioners to have him do so, 
the newcomer should invite his predecessor habitually to 
take some part in the service of worship and to preach 
occasionally, instead of leaving him to sit in one of the 
pews. 

Labors of love. 

A retired minister, or one occupying some official posi¬ 
tion which does not include a regular Sunday engagement, 
is often called upon to render gratuitous service, the so- 
called “labor of love.” He should always be glad to do 
this for a brother minister who is ill, or who has suffered 
bereavement, or who for some other good reason is pre¬ 
vented from preaching. The visiting minister should 
take no fee for such services, though he is entitled to his 
expenses, and to such entertainment as can be provided. 


ETHICS OF THE MINISTERIAL PROFESSION 169 


There are a few ministers who are inclined to take ad¬ 
vantage of the good nature of a brother minister known to 
be free to render such services, and who sometimes sponge 
upon him when they only want to take a Sunday off, or to 
prolong their vacation another week. Sometimes a parish 
will also try to get free preaching by calling upon such a 
man to supply its pulpit for his expenses, or for less than 
the usual fee. Such practices are clear signs of lack of 
self-respect on the part of those who adopt them, and 
should be firmly discouraged when discovered. 

On the other hand a minister so situated should always 
be ready freely to serve either a brother minister in need 
or weak parishes which are doing all they can. When he 
preaches as a supply for a brother minister who is filling 
another pulpit he is entitled to the fee which the other 
receives, due allowance being made for the traveling ex¬ 
penses of both. No minister should ever take fees for 
occasional services, such as christenings, marriages or 
funerals in the family of another minister, though he may 
accept his expenses if necessary. Such “labors of love” 
are but the due and fitting expression of fraternal courtesy. 


CHAPTER XV 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 

The right of free speech. 

It was stated in Chapter II that the minister is master 
of his own pulpit, with the right to speak his mind therein, 
subject only to the limitation that he may not preach 
contrary to the accepted tenets of his church. This liberty 
of the pulpit is the most fundamental of all the minister’s 
rights, but of necessity it carries with it certain obligations, 
and it sometimes gives rise to grave problems. It is, of 
course, only a particular aspect of the general rights of 
freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and is very 
close akin to the academic freedom of the teacher. 

The right of free speech is of quite modern origin. It 
necessarily can exist only in very limited degree under an 
absolute monarchy or in a church of highly centralized 
authority. Under such conditions the individual who ex¬ 
presses opinions on any important topic contrary to those 
of the governing authority will speedily be suppressed, 
since only thus can absolutism be maintained. The history 
of civil government, like that of the Christian church, is 
replete with illustrations of that fact. Even in seventeenth- 
century England the government undertook to regulate the 
utterances of the pulpit, as well as of the press. The clergy 
of the Established Church had been forbidden in Eliza¬ 
beth’s reign to preach sermons of their own handiwork save 
by special license, and had been limited to reading homilies 
issued by authority. 1 The practice of preaching from 
manuscript is said to have arisen in Puritan circles as a 
defense against charges of seditious preaching, the manu- 

1 Phillimore, “Eccles. Law,” 2d ed., Vol. I, p. 786. 

170 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 


171 


script being evidence as to what the preacher actually said. 
Milton’s ‘* Areopagitica” is the classic defense of the liberty 
of the press. In America the repressive domination of 
public opinion has largely replaced earlier forms of govern¬ 
mental and ecclesiastical suppression, but during and since 
the Great War there has been a marked tendency to limit 
by reactionary legislation both freedom of speech and of 
teaching. The right to speak in his own mind is, however, 
one of the fundamental rights of the free man, and en¬ 
croachments upon it, either by mob sentiment or by legis¬ 
lation, should be strenuously resisted. 

Freedom of speech includes the right to criticize the 
existing social order, the laws upon the statute books, the 
present form of government, the Constitution itself, which 
is not a sacrosanct revelation, but a document of human 
construction, open to improvement, as every amendment 
thereto implies. The fact that such criticism may often 
be foolish, or irritating to the majority, is no adequate 
excuse for silencing it, nor are its authors necessarily unpa¬ 
triotic or “un-American.” There is only one rightful 
limit to criticism of the state. Neither the preacher nor 
anyone else may violate the law of the land, nor advocate 
its violation, without falling under the penalties of the law. 
If the critic honestly believes that any given law is so 
iniquitous that he cannot in good conscience obey it then he 
must be prepared for conscience’ sake to suffer the conse¬ 
quences of disobedience, in the hope that his example may 
help to bring about the law’s repeal. But to penalize him 
merely for the expression of his honest opinion is to violate 
the sacred and hard-won right of freedom of thought and 
speech. 

For the minister, in particular, the liberty of the pulpit 
is of the utmost importance. Without it there can be no 
free inquiry into religion. A muzzled ministry will 
speedily cease to attract men of independence and char¬ 
acter. The influence of the pulpit is based upon its reputa¬ 
tion for disinterested loyalty to truth, and can only be 
maintained where there is 1 both freedom and fearless 
honesty. No minister who is known to be limited to a paid 
advocacy of prescribed views can exercise any strong moral 


172 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


influence. Therefore, the Protestant minister must insist 
upon his liberty in the pulpit or quit his ministry. 

The limits of liberty. 

That liberty, however, has its self-imposed restrictions 
and limitations which must be observed if it is to be exer¬ 
cised with any satisfaction to the preacher or advantage to 
others. In the first place, it is limited by consideration 
of the function which the minister is asked to exercise, 
namely, that of an interpreter of religion. Obviously he is 
not free to advocate immoral or illegal practices—such as 
polygamy, or the exposure of unwanted children or the 
chloroforming of the aged that society may be relieved from 
the burden of caring for them, since such teachings would 
be incitements to illegal acts profoundly offensive to the 
moral and religious standards of his congregation and 
community, and are not a part of that religion which he is 
expected to interpret. 

In the second place, he is not free to advocate doctrines 
contrary to the accepted tenets of the church of which he is 
the minister. By accepting the call to a given church he 
has indicated his general sympathy with its theological 
standards and put himself under moral obligations not to 
destroy its foundations of faith. 2 He may not, therefore, 
use his position to press upon his people views which will 
undermine those standards. He cannot, for example, hon¬ 
orably stand in an Episcopal church as an advocate of 
Unitarianism, or in a Unitarian church as an advocate of a 
non-theistic ethical culture, or in a Presbyterian church as 
advocate of the sacramentarian dogmas of Roman Catholi¬ 
cism. If he holds views thus at variance with the doctrinal 
standards of his church he should leave it and go where 
he belongs. If, for reasons of personal interest, or because 
of a determination to hold his position as a convenient 
vantage point for spreading his views, he declines to resign, 
both law and custom warrant the church in dismissing him, 
after its charges against him are duly proved. Aside, how¬ 
ever, from advocacy of immoral or illegal doctrines, or of 
views opposed to accepted tenets of his church, the church 

a See footnote on p. 18. 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 


173 


cannot legally restrict his freedom, dismiss him, lock him 
out, or penalize him by reducing his salary, on account of 
anything which he may say in the pulpit. 

The rights of the congregation. 

No high-minded minister, however, will rest content with 
a consideration of his legal right alone. He will remember 
that his congregation also have their rights. The church 
property is theirs, not his. They pay his salary, in return 
for which he is under obligation to render definite services 
to them. When they come to the common worship of God 
they have a right to a message from him which shall com¬ 
fort distress, or enlighten ignorance, or arouse the con¬ 
science, or move the sluggish will. The preacher ought not 
to cause distress, or perplex his hearers, or wound their 
sensibilities, or arouse anger and resentment. He may at 
times be under the necessity of rebuking them, but he must 
do it with just discrimination. He must denounce iniquity, 
but he must remember to love the sinner while hating the 
sin. He must point out follies of which, perhaps, many of 
his flock are guilty, but he will always cure folly better by 
persuasion to wisdom than by satire and invective. In a 
word, he must always remember that his primary duty is 
to minister to the moral and spiritual needs of his flock. 

Political and social 'programs. 

The minister is more likely, at the present time, to find 
himself in difficulties when dealing with problems of politi¬ 
cal and social reform than when he stirs the embers of a 
dying theological controversy. That, of course, is no new 
thing. From the days of the Hebrew prophets there has 
never been a time when the conscientious minister has not 
been confronted with entrenched social wrongs which it 
was his duty to oppose. In the two decades between 1840 
and 1860 many ministers in the north found themselves 
holding anti-slavery views quite at variance from those of 
their congregations. During the Great War some ministers 
were conscientious pacifists, and many others today hold 
theories as to government and property which may be 
shared by only a few of their parishioners. They may hold 


174 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


these views with intense conviction, believing that vital 
moral issues are involved, upon which they cannot keep 
silence. In such case they have the undoubted right to 
speak their convictions from the pulpit, fully and openly, 
whether their hearers agree with them or no. 

It is generally recognized today that political and eco¬ 
nomic issues frequently involve ethical problems on a large 
scale upon which the preacher cannot keep silent. He 
cannot limit his application of religion to matters of private 
morality only, but must consider its relation to the whole 
sweep of our modern industrial civilization . 3 But in so 
doing he must view the world not as a partisan, nor as an 
advocate of any particular group, but as one “ above the 
struggle” who strives with clear sight and unprejudiced 
mind to point out the paths which lead to peace and honor, 
to righteousness and truth. He must remember that the 

* ‘* Politics have been separated from Christianity: religious men 
have supposed that their only business was with the world to come: 
political men have declared that the present world is governed on 
entirely different principles than that. But politics for the people 
cannot be separated from religion. The world is governed by God; 
this is the rich man’s warning, this is the poor man’s comfort, 
this is the real hope in the consideration of all questions, let them 
be as hard as they may: this is the hope that liberty, fraternity, 
unity, under some conditions or other, are intended for every people 
under heaven.” F. D. Maurice. 

“He must preach on politics, not as the representative of a party 
but of mankind, and report not the mean counsels of a political 
economy, which consults for one party or one nation, for one day 
alone, but declare the sublime oracles of political morality, which 
looks to the welfare of all parties, all nations, and through all 
time. ... I know some men say, ‘religion has nothing to do 
with politics,’ . . . They mean morality has nothing to do with 
politics; that is, in making and administering the laws, no con¬ 
sideration is to be had of charity, truth, justice, or common hon¬ 
esty; . . . that . . . [the minister] should never preach in favor 
of good laws, or against wicked ones, never set forth the great 
principles of morality which underlie the welfare of the state, nor 
point out measures to embody and apply mere principles, and never 
expose the false principles and wicked measures which would lead 
the community to ruin.” Theodore Parker, “The Function of a 
Teacher of Religion.” See also Martineau, “National Duties and 
other Sermons and Addresses,” especially the sermons on “The 
Grounds of National Unity” and “The Right of War”; and 
Channing’s discourses on “Slavery” and on “War.” 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 


175 


church embraces all classes, men and women who with 
entire sincerity take very diverse points of view, and that 
his business is to understand them all, to lead them to 
understand one another, to interpret to them the law of life 
in the social order. 

He will do well to limit such topics to the special occa¬ 
sions upon which such themes are particularly appropriate, 
such as national holidays like Memorial Day, the Fourth of 
July, Thanksgiving, Forefathers’ Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, 
Washington’s Birthday, Labor Day, Peace Sunday, or 
the Sunday before an important election. These occasions 
will give him ample opportunity for expounding the gen¬ 
eral principles of civic righteousness and social justice. 

It is a good general rule that the preacher should deal 
with political and economic matters in the pulpit only when 
they involve clear moral or religious issues, as distinguished 
from questions of expediency or judgment. His criticism 
should be constructive rather than merely destructive; he 
should be accurate in his statements of fact, not basing his 
discourse upon cheap newspaper gossip; he should avoid 
all censoriousness, and any imputation of base motives to 
persons with whom he does not agree, unless he is in posses¬ 
sion of such information as would enable him to prove his 
case in a court of law. He should always bear in mind that 
he is speaking not as an irresponsible individual but in a 
representative capacity. He is not a free-lance lecturer, 
or a soap-box orator, but the spokesman on behalf of a 
body of worshipers. In the eyes of the world he represents 
his congregation and is supposed to be speaking their views. 
Therefore he has no right to talk loosely or foolishly, but 
only soberly, discreetly, and in the fear of God. Only by 
so doing can he hold or exert any influence, and avoid 
doing perhaps irreparable damage to the reputation of his 
church. 

Again he should remember that he is not addressing a 
debating society but an audience which cannot make imme¬ 
diate reply. It is related that when Louis XIV asked the 
Prince de Vendome why he did not attend the court serv¬ 
ices the latter said, “Sire, I cannot go to hear a man who 
says whatever he pleases, and to whom no one has the lib- 


176 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


erty of reply mg.” 4 In seventeenth-century England custom, 
indeed, permitted a member of the congregation to arise 
at the close of service and openly discuss with the preacher 
the doctrine presented in the sermon, a practice abundantly 
illustrated in George Fox’s ‘ ‘ Journal. ’ ’ That custom, how¬ 
ever, has died out, and now the only course open to mem¬ 
bers of the church who have heard from the pulpit views 
of which they disapprove is to remonstrate privately after¬ 
wards with the minister, to put their opposing views in 
print if his statements have been given newspaper pub¬ 
licity, or to remain away from church. The modern man 
is likely to take the last course. Whether he does or not 
it is obviously neither magnanimous nor fair for the min¬ 
ister to use his pulpit as a platform for the habitual pro¬ 
mulgation of political or economic theories not shared by 
many of the congregation. It is his right to make his 
position quite clear as to any moral issue which may arise, 
but his right is limited to presenting the issue as fairly as 
he is able after careful study, free from prejudice and 
misstatement, stating his conclusions with full allowance 
for the possibility of error. He must remember that many 
of his congregation may feel as strongly upon the other side 
of the question, and he should not assume that those who 
disagree with him are either fools or knaves. He must not 
bring into the pulpit half-baked conclusions and snap 
judgments, based on inadequate or partisan information, 
on economic or social problems about which even the best- 
informed may differ widely. What angers a congregation 
is a dogmatic laying down of the law on points about which 
the minister has no expert knowledge. Let him remember 
the words of Cromwell, “I beseech you, brethren, by the 
mercies of Christ, to remember that it is possible that ye 
may be mistaken.’’ 

Finally he must remember that in any case political and 
social issues, however important their moral bearings, form 
only a part of his message. There are great fields of human 
experience which no social reconstruction will ever affect. 
The sorrow and loneliness of bereavement, the bitterness 
of disappointment and failure, remorse for sin and the 

* Hoyt, “The Work of Preaching,” p. 235. 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 


177 


reproach of conscience—these are tragedies of life which 
have nothing to do with economics. Let him make clear 
the importance of a sound economic and social foundation 
for morality and religion, let him deal with the great moral 
issues of his day, but let him never forget that the preacher 
must also deal constantly with other and higher ranges of 
human life and experience. 

One of the chief reasons why ministers find themselves 
in difficulties with their congregations is that they do for¬ 
get this obligation. They themselves become absorbed in 
some theory of the social order, such as Socialism, or some 
particular reform, such as the Single tax, and they neglect 
their ministration to the varied human needs of their 
people. They harp upon the one string of their own special 
interest, they twist every text to teach their favorite doc¬ 
trine, until the subject gets on the nerves of the congrega¬ 
tion, which is utterly bored or exasperated by the weekly 
reiteration of one side of a single issue; just as one’s 
nerves may be set on edge by a child who incessantly 
strums on a piano the one tune which he knows. Most 
congregations are willing enough to let the minister speak 
his mind on subjects upon which they disagree with him, 
providing he does so only occasionally, and for the rest 
deals with topics in which they are interested and which 
give them the nourishment for which they hunger. 

The approach to controverted topics. 

Some ministers invite trouble by their use of “ shock tac¬ 
tics” in dealing with controversial topics. They purposely 
overstate their case in a startling, aggressive, uncompro¬ 
mising way, both because they think it is more honest to do 
so, and because, by giving the congregation a shock, they 
think to secure a measure of attention which would not be 
given to a discourse in which unwelcome truths were cau¬ 
tiously and tactfully set forth. Now ‘ 1 shock tactics” may 
sometimes be justified by the well-fed somnolence or the 
complaisant self-satisfaction of a congregation, but if often 
repeated they lose their effect and only provoke a violent 
reaction. Furthermore, “shock tactics” generally indicate 
that the preacher expects the opposition of his hearers, 


178 


THE MINISTER AND HIS PARISH 


whereas the preacher should always assume that his con¬ 
gregation will be ready to accept the truth which he pro¬ 
poses to expound. In the long run, therefore, better results 
will follow from an irenic presentation of his message. The 
minister who has really learned the art of preaching can 
put unwelcome truths in a way which will be persuasive 
instead of irritating. 

The fact of the case is that what makes trouble is not so 
often what a man says as the way he says it. In most 
Protestant pulpits a man is free to say almost anything he 
wants, within the limits of reason and courtesy, if he knows 
how to say it, and he may do so without being one whit less 
honest than his blundering brother who is trying to use 
the blunt instead of the sharp edge of his ax to split his 
wood. It is not a question of honesty nearly so much as of 
wisdom and of a sympathetic understanding of the feelings 
of others. The way to succeed in dealing with controver¬ 
sial topics is to set the issue against the background of 
some great underlying principle of religion, leaving the 
people to make their own practical application of the 
principle to the matter in hand. 

The attitude of the parish. 

When a fundamental disagreement develops between 
the minister and his parish, growing out of divergence on 
political or sociological views, the situation may become so 
strained that the continuance of the pastoral relationship 
becomes inexpedient. The parish should, however, be very 
slow to ask for the minister’s resignation, even if many 
people think the best interests of the church require it. 
The people should remember that very often such questions 
are of temporary duration. The divisive issue may pres¬ 
ently be settled by legislation or by the growth of public 
sentiment. In any case such an issue is not of the perma¬ 
nent substance of the gospel. If the parish will patiently 
live through a period of incompatibility with its minister 
they may together work out into a happier understanding, 
just as a married couple may work out of a period of fric¬ 
tion and disagreement. Furthermore, where there is 
division of sentiment within the parish, it is highly inexpe- 


THE LIBERTY OF THE PULPIT 


179 


dient to give any ground for the charge that the liberty of 
the pulpit is being abridged. The dissatisfied element must 
remember that it is always possible that the minister may 
be right, or at least more nearly in the right than they are. 
The church should never be put in the position of penal¬ 
izing the preacher for proclaiming the truth fearlessly and 
honestly. Mutual forbearance and good will, courtesy and 
consideration will show the way out of many a strained 
situation. In this, as in all things, the Christian law of 
love should be the sacred bond between the minister of the 
gospel and the parish which he serves—and “where the 
spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 







































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